Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger officially called for the pair of special elections for the Georgia Public Service Commission on Wednesday, but the plan to put the two commission districts on the ballot this year was created by state lawmakers last year.
Wes Wolfe/Georgia Recorder
Two seats on the all-GOP Georgia Public Service Commission will be on the ballot alongside municipal races this year.
Commissioner Tim Echols, who represents a wide swath of east Georgia, and Commissioner Fitz Johnson, who represents metro Atlanta, will be up for reelection.
It will be the first time any of the state regulators have been on the ballot since 2020, when Democratic candidate Daniel Blackman narrowly lost to longtime Commissioner Lauren “Bubba” McDonald in a closely watched runoff election that sent two Georgia Democrats to the U.S. Senate.
Echols was first elected in 2011 and was set to be on the ballot in 2022 until the courts delayed the election because of a lawsuit challenging the commission’s at-large districts. Johnson was appointed by Gov. Brian Kemp in 2021 to fill a vacancy on the commission and has not yet stood for election.
Qualifying for the Nov. 4 election will run April 1-3. A primary will be held June 17, with a runoff on July 15 if needed. The winners from the primaries will face each other in November.
Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger officially called for the pair of special elections Wednesday, but the plan to put the two commission districts on the ballot this year was created by state lawmakers last year.
The usual election schedule was disrupted by the lawsuit filed in 2020 that challenged the commission’s at-large districts as being unfair to Black voters. Commissioners represent – and must reside in – one of the five districts but are elected statewide to serve six-year terms.
A federal district judge sided with the plaintiffs but that lower court’s decision was reversed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case last year.
Another lawsuit was filed last summer challenging the constitutionality of a plan passed last legislative session to get the commission elections back on track and in the process extended the sitting commissioners’ terms beyond when they were elected to serve.
For example, under the measure passed last year, Commissioner Tricia Pridemore, who would have been up for reelection last year, will not be on the ballot until 2026.
But a federal judge dismissed the case last month.
U.S. District Court Judge William M. Ray II wrote in his January order that there is “no evidence of intent or motivation to disenfranchise Georgia voters.”
“Importantly, the burden imposed on voters is merely a delay and does not disenfranchise Georgia voters,” Ray wrote in his January order.
While that case is being appealed, Brionté McCorkle, who is the executive director of Georgia Conservation Voters and a plaintiff in both lawsuits, said they are looking ahead to the pair of races.
“It is time for these commissioners to go up and be held accountable for what they have been doing to Georgia Power customers’ bills,” McCorkle said.
The commission has approved a series of rate increases requested by the state’s largest electric utility that have collectively increased the average household bill by about $43 per month since 2020.
Normally, the commission races are on the ballot with other statewide contests, but this year, the races will get top billing on ballots across the state.
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