--- title: HB 640. Alpharetta, City of; election of city offices by majority vote; provide collection: bills id: 2025-2026/hb640 cite_as: HB 640, 2025-2026 Regular Session (Ga.) canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb640 md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb640.md text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb640/text source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/70831 date: 2025-05-13 status: passed corpus_version: bills-2026-08-28 license: Public record of the Georgia General Assembly, via LegiScan; see about.md publisher: Georgia Commons, an independent project of Georgia Civic Data. Not the State of Georgia. Not legal advice. up: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026.md previous: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb639.md next: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb641.md index: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/index.md omitted: votes and history omitted_chars: 884 omitted_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb640.md?full=1 bill_number: HB 640 session: 2025-2026 Regular Session session_slug: 2025-2026 chamber: House bill_type: bill status_date: 2025-05-13 last_action: Effective Date 2025-05-13 sponsors: - Charles Martin - Jan Jones - Todd Jones - Michelle Au - Scott Hilton text_version: Enrolled has_text: true legiscan_url: https://legiscan.com/GA/bill/HB640/2025 upstream_id: 1985882 summaries_model: claude-sonnet-5 topic_tags: - local elections - city government - Alpharetta - election rules - runoff elections --- # HB 640. Alpharetta, City of; election of city offices by majority vote; provide ## Text 25 LC 44 2946/AP House Bill 640 (AS PASSED HOUSE AND SENATE) By: Representatives Martin of the 49th, Jones of the 47th, Jones of the 25th, Au of the 50th, and Hilton of the 48th A BILL TO BE ENTITLED AN ACT To amend an Act to amend, consolidate, create, revise, and supe rsede the several Acts1 incorporating the City of Alpharetta, approved April 9, 1981 (G a. L. 1981, p. 4609), as2 amended, so as to provide for election to city offices by majority vote; to repeal conflicting3 laws; and for other purposes.4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA:5 SECTION 1.6 An Act to amend, consolidate, create, revise, and supersede the several Acts incorporating7 the City of Alpharetta, approved April 9, 1981 (Ga. L. 1981, p. 4609), as amended, is8 amended by revising Section 5.16 as follows:9 "SECTION 5.16.10 Election by majority.11 The person receiving a majority of the votes cast for any city office shall be elected. In12 instances where no candidate receives a majority of the votes c ast, a runoff between the13 H. B. 640 - 1 - 25 LC 44 2946/AP candidates receiving the two highest numbers of votes shall be held, and the person14 receiving a majority of the votes cast in the run-off election shall be elected."15 SECTION 2.16 All laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed.17 H. B. 640 - 2 - ## Summaries written by Georgia Commons The following was written by claude-sonnet-5 from the text above and is not part of the bill. Quote the text, not the summary. House Bill 640 would require candidates for Alpharetta city offices to win a majority of votes, with a runoff between the top two finishers if no one clears that bar. ### Plain-language summary This bill changes the local charter law that governs how the City of Alpharetta elects its city officials. It amends the 1981 Act that consolidated Alpharetta's various charter laws, specifically Section 5.16, which sets the rule for winning city elections. Under the new language, a candidate for any city office must receive a majority of votes cast to be elected outright. If no candidate gets a majority in the first round, the bill requires a runoff election between the two candidates who received the most votes, and whoever wins a majority in that runoff is elected. The bill also repeals any existing laws that conflict with this change. ### What it does - Rewrites Section 5.16 of Alpharetta's charter law to require a majority vote, not just the most votes, to win a city office. - Creates a mandatory runoff election between the top two vote-getters whenever no candidate wins a majority in the first round. - Specifies that the winner of the runoff election must also receive a majority of votes cast in that runoff. - Repeals any prior laws or provisions that conflict with this new majority-vote election rule. ### Who it affects This bill affects candidates running for city offices in Alpharetta, Georgia, as well as Alpharetta voters and the city's election officials, who would need to administer runoff elections when no candidate wins an outright majority. ### Why it matters For Alpharetta residents, this means city elections could require a second, runoff vote if the first round doesn't produce a majority winner, changing how quickly and by what margin candidates are declared winners of city offices. ### Key provisions - Section 1 revises Section 5.16 of the 1981 Act incorporating the City of Alpharetta to require a majority vote for election to any city office. - Section 1 also establishes that if no candidate gets a majority, a runoff is held between the two highest vote-getters. - Section 1 requires the runoff winner to also receive a majority of votes cast in that runoff round. - Section 2 repeals any conflicting laws, a standard clause clearing away inconsistent prior provisions. ## Status - Status: Passed (2025-05-13) - Last action: Effective Date 2025-05-13 (2025-05-13) - Sponsors: Charles Martin, Jan Jones, Todd Jones, Michelle Au, Scott Hilton - Official page: https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/70831 > The history, votes, and amendments (884 characters) are at https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb640.md?full=1