On January 20, the voters opposed to the current Georgia U.S. House redistricting plan filed this brief in Pendergrass v Raffensperger, n.d., 1:21cv-5339. The brief fiercely attacks the state for suggesting that it is already too late to change the U.S. House boundaries. As the brief mentions on page 20, Governor Brian Kemp did not act on the redistricting bill for more than an entire month after he received it from the legislature. Of course, it was impossible for anyone to sue over the districting plan until after he had signed it into law.

This case has implications for Georgia ballot access in 2022 for U.S. House. Under a federal precedent from Georgia in 2002, when the redistricting is uncertain after the petitioning period for independent and minor party candidates has started, the petition requirement must be reduced. Parker v Barnes. The petitioning period in Georgia started January 13, and ends July 12.

Also, the Secretary of State still has not calculated how many signatures are needed in each district. The calculation is time-consuming, because the new boundaries must be imposed on voter registration data from October 2020. The Secretary of State probably doesn’t want to do the work until the actual 2022 districts are settled.