--- title: SB 15. Elections; provide by local legislation for nonpartisan elections for county governing authorities; authorize the General Assembly collection: bills id: 2025-2026/sb15 cite_as: SB 15, 2025-2026 Regular Session (Ga.) canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb15 md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb15.md text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb15/text source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/69379 date: 2025-01-16 status: introduced corpus_version: bills-2026-09-13 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/sb14.md next: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb16.md index: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/index.md omitted: votes and history omitted_chars: 95 omitted_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb15.md?full=1 bill_number: SB 15 session: 2025-2026 Regular Session session_slug: 2025-2026 chamber: Senate bill_type: bill status_date: 2025-01-15 last_action: Senate Read and Referred sponsors: - Ed Setzler - Clint Dixon - John Albers - Shawn Still - Kay Kirkpatrick text_version: Introduced has_text: true legiscan_url: https://legiscan.com/GA/bill/SB15/2025 upstream_id: 1922251 summaries_model: claude-sonnet-5 topic_tags: - election rules - county government - nonpartisan elections - local legislation --- # SB 15. Elections; provide by local legislation for nonpartisan elections for county governing authorities; authorize the General Assembly ## Text Senate Bill 15 By: Senators Setzler of the 37th, Dixon of the 45th, Albers of the 56th, Still of the 48th and Kirkpatrick of the 32nd A BILL TO BE ENTITLED AN ACT To amend Chapter 2 of Title 21 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to elections and primaries generally, so as to authorize the General Assembly to provide by local legislation for nonpartisan elections for county governing authorities; to provide for related matters; and for other purposes. BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA: SECTION 1. Chapter 2 of Title 21 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to elections and primaries generally, is amended in Code Section 21-2-139, relating to nonpartisan elections authorized and conduct, by revising subsection (a) as follows: "(a) Notwithstanding any other provisions of this chapter to the contrary, the General Assembly may provide by local Act for the election in nonpartisan elections of candidates to fill county judicial offices, offices of local boards of education, offices of county governing authorities, and offices of consolidated governments which are filled by the vote of the electors of said county or political subdivision. Except as otherwise provided in this Code section, the procedures to be employed in such nonpartisan elections shall conform as nearly as practicable to the procedures governing nonpartisan elections as provided in this chapter. Except as otherwise provided in this Code section, the election procedures established by any existing local law which provides for the nonpartisan election of candidates to fill county offices shall conform to the general procedures governing nonpartisan elections as provided in this chapter, and such nonpartisan elections shall be conducted in accordance with the applicable provisions of this chapter, notwithstanding the provisions of any existing local law. For those offices for which the General Assembly, pursuant to this Code section, provided by local Act for election in nonpartisan primaries and elections, such offices shall no longer require nonpartisan primaries. Such officers shall be elected in nonpartisan elections held and conducted in conjunction with the general primary in even-numbered years in accordance with this chapter without a prior nonpartisan primary. This Code section shall apply to all nonpartisan elections for members of consolidated governments. All nonpartisan elections for members of consolidated governments shall be governed by the provisions of this Code section and shall be considered county elections and not municipal elections for the purposes of this Code section. Nonpartisan elections for municipal offices shall be conducted on the dates provided in the municipal charter." SECTION 2. All laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed. ## 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. Senate Bill 15 would let the Georgia General Assembly pass local laws allowing individual counties to hold nonpartisan elections for county commissioners and other county governing authority seats. ### Plain-language summary 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. ### What it does - 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. ### Who it affects 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. ### Why it matters 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. ### Key provisions - 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. ## Status - Status: Introduced (2025-01-15) - Last action: Senate Read and Referred (2025-01-16) - Sponsors: Ed Setzler, Clint Dixon, John Albers, Shawn Still, Kay Kirkpatrick - Official page: https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/69379 > The history, votes, and amendments (95 characters) are at https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb15.md?full=1