Ups, Downs and In-betweens
Summer Special: The deadline to remove QR codes from ballots is looming, and Georgia doesn’t have a solution. A proposal to extend the July 1 deadline for removing the codes died on the final day of this year’s legislative session. And in early May, the Georgia State Election Board voted to take no action to replace the system.
That’s led Gov. Brian Kemp to call a special session beginning June 17 to designate a new voting method or push back the deadline. But that’s not all the legislature will do.
Although many Southern states rushed to redraw 2026 congressional and state districts following the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that further weakened the Voting Rights Act, Kemp said Georgia will not redraw its maps ahead of the November midterms. But he put redistricting for the 2028 election on the agenda for the special session.
Three things experts are watching this summer: First, a long special session could potentially interfere with fundraising efforts for the November 2026 election, since state law prohibits legislators and statewide officials from raising campaign money during a legislative session. Second, if the legislature decides to “fix” the QR codes issue by changing the way ballots are cast rather than postponing the deadline, counties won’t have much time to plan for November’s election. Finally, how many majority-minority and Democratic-leaning districts will be eliminated under the new maps, both at the state legislative level and the congressional level.
In an article in the Georgia Recorder, state elections expert Charles Bullock, a political scientist at the University of Georgia, identified the 2nd District as one likely target. Democratic U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop currently represents the rural southwest district. But will Republican legislators look to carve out one or more seats from Metro Atlanta? Experts say that could risk a “dummymander,” a redrawing of the map that winds up benefitting the opposite party.
USG Retirement: Longtime politician Sonny Perdue is retiring as the 14th chancellor of the University System of Georgia, a position he has held since 2022. A national search is underway to find his replacement, and he will remain until his successor is named.
During his tenure, USG saw record enrollment and an all-time high of 82,607 degrees awarded in FY 2025 – an increase of more than 50% since 2011. Thanks in part to his focus on affordability, Georgia is consistently ranked among the most affordable states in the country for tuition and fees, the fifth lowest nationwide.
Perdue, 79, has spent more than four decades in public service, including joining the state Senate in 1991 before being elected the first Republican governor of Georgia since Reconstruction. He served two terms, and in 2017 was confirmed as U.S. secretary of agriculture.
In Memoriam: Media mogul and philanthropist Ted Turner, who died April 6 at 87, changed television news forever. He founded several Atlanta-based networks including TBS, TNT, Turner Classic Movies and the Cartoon Network. But it was his 1980 launch of CNN that he called his greatest achievement. Turner owned the Atlanta Hawks and Atlanta Braves for many years and aired their games on TBS. After selling his Turner Broadcasting System networks in1996 and stepping down as AOL Time Warner’s vice chair in 2003, he turned his efforts to conservation, buying 2 million acres in North America spread over 28 properties. He also donated $1 billion to the United Nations.
Longtime U.S. Rep. David Scott passed away April 22 at age 80, after facing health challenges in recent years. Representing District 13, which covers communities in parts of Gwinnett, Henry and Clayton counties, Scott spent his life dedicated to public service. He started as a staffer on Andrew Young’s 1972 congressional campaign, later winning the race for state House in 1974 and the state Senate in 1982. He was the first Black person, and first Georgian, to chair the House Agriculture Committee in 2020. Scott was seeking a 13th term at the time of his death.
Erroll Davis Jr., former interim superintendent of Atlanta Public Schools and the first Black chancellor of the University System of Georgia, died on April 26 at age 81. He was the recipient of numerous honors and awards, including the Metro Atlanta Chamber’s Partners for Education Partnership Champion of the Year Award in 2014 and the 2014 100 Black Men of Atlanta Leadership Award.
