The nine justices on the Georgia Supreme Court did not do the state any favors when they declined to issue a ruling on who has the authority to draw county commission lines — individual counties or the legislature.

In fact, in a state where redrawn voting maps are most always challenged and in a state with 159 individual counties, the court’s silence may have invited more chaos to Georgia elections.

The state Supreme Court was pulled into the issue by Cobb County, a county where Democrats maintain local control but Republicans hold state control. In 2022, clinging tightly to the powers of home rule, the Cobb County Commission, the majority of seats held by Democrats, shucked the redistricting map approved by the state legislature and signed into law by Gov. Brian Kemp. The commission replaced it with its own version.

The Cobb County Commission had a reason to suspect the legislature’s map of political foul play. With several tucks here and there in the voting lines, the legislature had drawn the chairwoman of the Cobb County Commission, a Democrat, out of her own district. Cobb County rests its argument on the right to shape its own voting districts on what it says is the absence of a state law or anything in the Georgia Constitution that prohibits it.

A Cobb County Superior Court judge did not see it that way and ruled in favor of a challenge to the commission’s map. When put before the Georgia Supreme Court, justices would have nothing to do with it. Justice Nels Peterson explained why the court felt the two Cobb residents — David and Catherine Floam, whose names are on the lawsuit — failed to qualify for declaratory judgment. “To be clear, the fact that there are two competing maps does create significant uncertainty for many,” Peterson acknowledged, while noting the couple “have not shown that this uncertainty affects their future conduct. They have not established that they are insecure about some future action they plan to take.” Sounds like an Abbott and Costello “Who’s on First?” skit.

Residents cast ballots during the early voting weeks in accordance with the voting map presented by Cobb commissioners.

It is incumbent upon state lawmakers to take whatever action is necessary to clear this matter up and prevent any future misunderstanding about whose job it is. Seek a constitutional amendment or pass a state law, whatever is necessary, to give the responsibility to counties or the General Assembly.