Can Georgia appoint an interim U.S. House member or must a special election be held?

1. The constitutional baseline: only elections fill House seats

The U.S. Constitution assigns to states the role of issuing "Writs of Election" to fill vacancies in the House of Representatives, which has long been interpreted to mean seats are filled by special election rather than gubernatorial appointment; none of the supplied sources directly quotes the Constitution on this point, and the provided results do not include a primary constitutional text, so explicit constitutional language is not cited here (available sources do not mention the constitutional text) (available sources do not mention the constitutional text).

2. Evidence in these sources: special elections are used around the country

The closest direct evidence in the provided material comes from aggregated election reporting: 270toWin’s special-election coverage lists multiple congressional special elections and interim arrangements in other jurisdictions and describes special elections as the mechanism being used for vacant congressional seats—demonstrating nationwide practice of filling House vacancies through elections rather than gubernatorial appointment ^[1].

3. Georgia-specific material supplied: state legislative vacancies vs. congressional vacancies

Ballotpedia’s Georgia entries explain how Georgia fills vacancies in its own General Assembly—by special election, with timing rules for when the governor must call one for state legislative seats—which shows Georgia’s routine reliance on elections to fill legislative vacancies at the state level ^[2]. However, the provided Ballotpedia and Georgia General Assembly pages do not explicitly state Georgia law for filling U.S. House vacancies, so we cannot from these sources alone assert the precise statutory mechanics Georgia uses for federal vacancies ^{[2] [3]}.

4. What the supplied sources explicitly do and do not say

The supplied sources list current U.S. House members from Georgia and track special-election events nationwide (Congress.gov, GovTrack, Wikipedia lists, Ballotpedia, 270toWin), but none of the provided pages include a clear, sourced statement that Georgia may appoint an interim U.S. House member or that it must hold a special election for a House vacancy; consequently, we must rely on the general pattern in the available election reporting that special elections are the mechanism for replacing members of the U.S. House ^{[1] [4] [5]}. If you seek a Georgia statute or governor’s authority language on federal vacancies, those texts are not present in the supplied results (available sources do not mention Georgia statute language on federal vacancies).

5. Competing perspectives and practical implications

One practical viewpoint, reflected indirectly by special-election reporting, is that requiring elections preserves democratic legitimacy for federal representation and explains the time lag often seen between a vacancy and a successor taking office ^[1]. An alternative concern—raised in broader debates though not in the supplied sources—is that special elections can leave districts unrepresented for months; the supplied materials do not present any Georgia-specific argument for establishing an appointment mechanism to shorten vacancies (available sources do not mention arguments for gubernatorial appointment in Georgia).

6. How to confirm the definitive Georgia rule

To resolve the question definitively, one must consult Georgia statutory law or an official statement from the Georgia Secretary of State or Governor’s office about federal vacancy procedures; the provided Georgia General Assembly and Ballotpedia pages discuss state legislative special elections but do not quote or reproduce Georgia law about U.S. House vacancies, so those primary legal texts are missing from this packet ^{[2] [3]}. For a final, source-cited legal answer, request or consult the Georgia Code or an official state election guidance document not included among the current sources.

Summary: Available reporting here shows the prevailing national practice of filling U.S. House vacancies through special elections and shows Georgia uses special elections for state legislative vacancies, but the supplied sources do not explicitly state whether Georgia may appoint an interim U.S. House member or must hold a special election for a federal vacancy; to state that definitively requires Georgia statutory or official guidance not present in the provided materials ^{[1] [2]}.