Which Georgia counties have special elections scheduled in early 2026?

1. State Senate District 18 — where voters will be called to the polls on Jan. 20

The Secretary of State’s official call for a special election names Crawford, Monroe, Peach and Upson counties, along with portions of Bibb and Houston counties, as the jurisdictions responsible for conducting the special election to fill Georgia Senate District 18 on January 20, 2026, a contest triggered by a vacancy in the seat ^[1]. Local election offices in Macon‑Bibb have posted practical voter information — early voting dates, absentee deadlines and the election-day date — underscoring that residents of those counties (or the parts of Bibb and Houston inside the district) must use their county board of elections locations to participate ^{[6] [7]}. Statewide coverage from the Georgia Recorder and Rough Draft Atlanta also confirms the district composition and notes the crop of qualified candidates, signaling this is an actively contested special election that will alter who sits in the State Senate as the 2026 session proceeds ^{[2] [8]}.

2. U.S. House District 14 — the March special and the counties it covers

Governor Brian Kemp called the special election for Georgia’s 14th Congressional District to replace the vacated U.S. House seat, setting a March 10, 2026 special general with an April 7 runoff if no candidate wins a majority ^{[3] [4]}. Multiple sources — the Secretary of State notice of the special election and local election guides — list the district as including all of Catoosa, Chattooga, Dade, Floyd, Murray, Paulding, Polk, Walker and Whitfield counties and parts of Cobb County, making those counties responsible for administering the special and any runoff ^{[9] [5]}. The Federal Election Commission has also issued special‑elections reporting guidance specific to this contest, confirming the federal nature and schedule of the race ^[4].

3. Why county lists matter — administration, turnout and legal mechanics

Naming specific counties is not a mere geographic note: Georgia law places the administrative burden for special elections with the counties that comprise the vacant district, which affects early voting locations, absentee‑by‑mail logistics and which voters are eligible to participate — especially where only portions of a county lie inside a district ^{[10] [6]}. Local boards — for example Macon‑Bibb for District 18 voters — have already published voting schedules and absentee deadlines, emphasizing that voters must verify precinct boundaries on the state My Voter Page to determine eligibility when a county is split across districts ^{[6] [7]}. The Secretary of State's formal calls and calendars set deadlines for qualifying and registration that counties must follow, and they form the legal backbone for administering these off‑cycle contests ^{[9] [11]}.

4. Political stakes, messaging and the sources’ perspectives

State and federal notices present neutral administrative facts — dates, counties, qualifying windows — while local reporting highlights political dynamics, such as candidate slates and how quickly these vacancies are being filled after resignations ^{[2] [8]}. That difference matters: official sources (Secretary of State, county election pages) are primarily procedural and unambiguous about which counties are involved ^{[1] [9] [6]}, whereas outlets like Georgia Recorder and Rough Draft Atlanta interpret those facts in the context of legislative control and candidate positioning ^{[2] [8]}. Readers should note that while the county lists are factual and consistent across official documents, reporting that emphasizes partisan implications inevitably reflects editorial choices about what to highlight.

5. Caveats, verification and limits of reporting

The definitive county lists for each special election come from the Secretary of State’s official calls and county election offices and are corroborated by regional reporting and federal election guidance, but where a county is listed only “in part” (Bibb, Houston, Cobb) voters should check precinct maps and the state My Voter Page to confirm whether their address falls inside the special‑election district ^{[1] [7] [9]}. This analysis relies on the published calls, county election web pages and contemporaneous reporting; if more special elections are called after these documents were posted, those would not appear here ^{[11] [12]}.