SB 15: Elections; provide by local legislation for nonpartisan elections for county governing authorities; authorize the General Assembly

Georgia law already allows the General Assembly to pass local legislation letting certain local offices, such as county judicial posts, local school board seats, and consolidated government offices, be filled through nonpartisan elections instead of party primaries. This bill adds 'offices of county governing authorities' (generally county commissions) to that list. The change is made by inserting a few words into O.C.G.A. § 21-2-139(a), the existing code section governing nonpartisan elections. It does not itself convert any county to nonpartisan elections; it only expands the category of offices that the General Assembly could authorize for nonpartisan elections through future local legislation specific to a county. Any actual switch would still require a separate local Act for that county, and such elections would be held with the general primary in even-numbered years without a prior nonpartisan primary. The bill repeals conflicting laws in Section 2.

• Adds county governing authority offices (such as county commission seats) to the list of offices eligible for nonpartisan elections under O.C.G.A. § 21-2-139.
• Allows the General Assembly to authorize nonpartisan elections for these offices only through separate local legislation covering a specific county.
• Specifies that offices moved to nonpartisan elections under this authority would no longer hold nonpartisan primaries, and would instead be elected in nonpartisan elections held with the general primary in even-numbered years.
• Repeals any existing state laws that conflict with this change.

County governing authorities (commissions) across Georgia, county election officials who administer primaries and elections, candidates running for county commission seats, and voters in any county where the General Assembly later passes local legislation adopting nonpartisan elections.

If the General Assembly later passes local legislation for specific counties, county commission candidates there could run without party labels and without a separate nonpartisan primary, changing how voters choose their county leaders and how candidates campaign in those counties.

• Section 1 amends O.C.G.A. § 21-2-139(a) to add 'offices of county governing authorities' to the list of offices the General Assembly may make nonpartisan by local Act.
• The amended text keeps the requirement that nonpartisan election procedures conform as closely as practicable to the general procedures for nonpartisan elections in this chapter.
• Offices converted to nonpartisan status under this authority would be elected during the general primary in even-numbered years without holding a separate nonpartisan primary first.
• Section 2 repeals any conflicting state laws, a standard clause with no substantive effect beyond this bill's changes.

1. 2025-01-16Senate Read and Referred (Senate)
2. 2025-01-15Senate Hopper (Senate)

• Ed Setzler (R, SD-037)Primary sponsor
• Clint Dixon (R, SD-045)
• John Albers (R, SD-056)
• Shawn Still (R, SD-048)
• Kay Kirkpatrick (R, SD-032)

• election rules
• county government
• nonpartisan elections
• local legislation