The residency statuses of two candidates for Atlanta’s District 11 City Council seat are being challenged, potentially interfering with their ability to remain on the ballot.
Sherry Williams and Keith Lewis are maintaining in court that they live in District 11. However, voter Donna Cook is challenging these claims through Advocate James Finley, who has argued that Williams and Lewis have long been voting outside of District 11.
This is a problem because when voting, one has to fill out a “certificate” stating that the district area in which one is voting “is my domicile,” Finley noted.
He pointed out that Williams has been voting in District 10 using her mother’s address for the last 13 years, and “by her own admission,” “as recently as 2025.”
Williams told city officials she updated her voter registration “by the time she qualified to run for office,” Fox 5 Atlanta reported.
Her attorney, Curt Thompson, has countered Finley by pointing to evidence including a lease, utility bills, and witness testimony that she has been living on Campbellton Road within District 11. “Domicile is where you lay your head at night. It is where you intend to be,” he told city officials.
Williams was masked as she testified before city officials about her residency status.
Lewis admitted his voter registration referenced his parents’ home in East Point, but said he has lived and voted in Southwest Atlanta for 17 years.
Atlanta City Attorney Patrice Perkins Hooker stressed that candidates for district seats must live in the district for over a year before attempting to run for office.
The municipal clerk rule is expected to rule on both challenges Monday. Lewis and Williams are among ten candidates running for the District 11 seat. If ousted from the race, that number could drop to eight.
District 11 has “long been a political power base,” noted Fox 5 Atlanta, as former mayors Andrew Young, Shirley Franklin, Kaseem Reed and Keisha Lance Bottoms “all have ties to the area.”
The Atlanta City Council has published an interactive map of District 11.
