ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia’s Public Service Commission is an elected body that’s gone years without having elections because of a redistricting lawsuit.
Anticipating that a court will order elections to resume, Georgia lawmakers now want to add an extra two years to the six-year terms of commissioners on the all-Republican body.
The plan, approved Thursday by both the Georgia House and Senate in House Bill 1312, awaits the signature or veto of Gov. Brian Kemp.
The commission regulates what Georgia Power Co. and some natural gas companies charge. It has in recent years allowed Georgia Power, a unit of Atlanta-based Southern Co., to increase what it charges customers.
The reordering of the staggered terms could prevent a majority of the commission seats from being elected at the same time, meaning Democrats couldn’t take control in one election.
The bill stems from a lawsuit that sought to force commissioners to be elected from districts, instead of statewide. A federal judge ruled in 2022 that statewide voting illegally diluted the power of Black voters, banning statewide elections and ordering elections by district. It was the first time a statewide voting scheme had been overturned by a federal judge. But a three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the ruling in November, saying Georgia was free to choose its form of government for the commission.
Curiously, though, the 11th Circuit has never issued a final order in the case. That means the original judge’s order blocking elections is still standing. Commissioners Tim Echols and Fitz Johnson were supposed to run in 2022, but remain on the commission today. The same will happen later this year with Commissioner Tricia Pridemore, because Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has said it’s already too late to schedule elections in 2024.
The plaintiffs could still ask the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the 11th Circuit’s ruling. But Brionte McCorkle, one of the plaintiffs in…
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