ATLANTA — Georgia lawmakers return to the State Capitol on Wednesday for a special legislative session focused on the state’s election system and redistricting ahead of upcoming election cycles.
One of the key issues before lawmakers is finding a new way to count votes in Georgia elections. A state law takes effect July 1 banning the current use of QR codes on ballots, but no alternative voting method has been passed.
Lawmakers will also consider redrawing Georgia’s legislative and congressional districts following a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling impacting the Voting Rights Act.
Civil rights groups and voting advocates gathered at the Capitol to oppose any changes they believe could weaken minority voting strength.
The Southern Poverty Law Center describes the redistricting effort as “a coordinated Southern strategy to erase Black and Brown political power.”
“Georgia has a long history of changing these rules for black communities to sort of keep the status quo,” said Isabel Otero, the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Georgia policy director.
Otero said Georgia appears to be the first state targeting both federal and state maps following the ruling.
“Yes, it’s about 2028 and the future elections, but the idea that in the middle of the election cycle you’re trying to fix the next election with your maps,” Otero said.
According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, two congressional districts and 26 state legislative seats where Black and Hispanic Georgians hold meaningful political representation are at risk under the proposed redistricting effort.
“The legal questions are also not whether lawmakers can draw new maps, it’s whether those maps are being used to actually weaken the Black voting power in our state,” Otero said.
Otero said changes to district maps could threaten economic progress, worsen the rural healthcare crisis and make it more difficult for diverse communities to access resources.
Community leaders and voting rights advocates also gathered at the Capitol as lawmakers began the special session.
New Birth Missionary Baptist Church Senior Pastor Jamal Bryant called the effort to redraw voting districts “alarming and heartbreaking.”
“To know that the Congressional Black Caucus could literally be cut in half where we have less representation in 2026 than we had in 1976 really should be a wake up call,” Bryant said.
Bryant said supporters of voting rights are prepared to oppose any effort they believe weakens the political power of Black voters.
WSB Radio’s Veronica Waters contributed to this story.
