District attorney challenges new Georgia law that removes party labels in Atlanta-area elections

ATLANTA (AP) — A Georgia district attorney said she is challenging the constitutionality of a law that requires nonpartisan elections for most local officials in the five most populous counties in the Atlanta area but not in the rest of the state.

DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston — flanked by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, Clayton County District Attorney Tasha Mosley and Cobb County District Attorney Sonya Allen — announced Wednesday at a park across the street from the state Capitol that she was filing a lawsuit challenging the law. Boston, the lone plaintiff in the lawsuit, asserted that the measure violates the state and federal constitutions and targets Democratic strongholds under the guise of taking politics out of those elections.

“Republicans here at the state Capitol want to make it harder for voters in our counties to choose the people who best represent us and our values,” Boston said. "But today we are here at the state Capitol to tell those lawmakers that we will not shy away from speaking up for the people of Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Gwinnett and Fulton counties.”

She dismissed the idea that the law is meant to improve public safety or remove politics from the equation.

“I think the intent of the law when you look at who they’ve targeted is very clear," Boston said. "They have chosen to go after Democratic strongholds where Democratic DAs and Democratic officials have been successful in these races.”

The lawsuit was filed against the state of Georgia. In an emailed statement, Kara Murray, a spokesperson for state Attorney General Chris Carr, said, "We will defend the law as enacted and signed by the Governor.”

Willis and Boston had previously threatened to sue over the law when Republican Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed it last month. They suggested that one reason Republicans were targeting those five counties was because they all have Black women as their elected district attorneys.

Willis has been a frequent target of Republican state lawmakers since she prosecuted President Donald Trump and others over attempts to overturn Democrat Joe Biden’s win in the 2020 presidential election in Georgia. That case was dismissed last year.

State Sen. John Albers, a Republican from the Atlanta suburb of Roswell who pushed the law, said during the legislative session that he believed it will promote public safety, though the counties’ elected sheriffs will continue to be elected under party labels. Albers did not immediately respond Wednesday to a message submitted online through his legislative office requesting comment on Boston's lawsuit.

The law, which takes effect in 2028, would require nonpartisan elections for district attorneys, solicitors general, county commissioners, court clerks and tax commissioners.

It will move elections for all affected officials except district attorneys to May, when voters choose nonpartisan judges. That means a smaller electorate than in November, with turnout mostly driven by primaries for partisan offices that are held at the same time. If no candidate wins a majority, nonpartisan runoffs would be held in June.

The measure applies in Fulton County, which includes most of Atlanta, as well as the suburbs of Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb and Gwinnett counties. Fulton, DeKalb and Clayton counties are the three most important Democratic jurisdictions in the state. Cobb and Gwinnett, once strongholds for Georgia Republicans, have increasingly voted for Democrats since 2016.

Boston said the law violates Georgia's uniformity clause, which she said requires laws to work the same way throughout the state. It also violates the equal protection clauses of the state and federal constitutions because lawmakers gave no valid reason for treating those five counties and their voters and elected officials differently, she said. And, she said, lawmakers violated procedural laws when they voted to pass it.