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Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Early voting is underway for Georgia PSC races. Here's what you need to know.
Primaries for two Georgia Public Service commission races will take place on June 17. Early voting began May 27 and will end June 13. Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder (file) For the first time since 2020, Georgia voters have a chance to decide who will represent them on the Public Service Commission. This delayed election comes after a lawsuit challenged the statewide elections used to elect commissioners, arguing it diluted the voting strength of Black voters. Despite each commissioner hailing from a specific geographic district in Georgia, voters across the state are eligible to vote for each member. This year, District 2 and 3 seats are on the ballot. The 2025 election comes as commissioners face criticism for signing off rising rates for Georgia Power customers. After June's primary election, winners will advance to the general election in November that will coincide with municipal elections across the state. With early voting already in full swing, about 18,000 people have cast a ballot as of Monday, according to the Secretary of State's data hub. The primary election will take place on June 17. Early voting began May 27 and will end June 13. If a candidate does not receive at least 50% of the vote in the primary, a runoff election will be held on July 15. Voters can check their registration status, polling information and sample ballots on the Georgia Secretary of State's My Voter Page. The PSC is a five-member commission that is tasked with regulating electric, telecommunication and natural gas services. The commissioners' decisions and outcomes directly affect how much people in Georgia pay for necessary utility services. Their website points out that 'very few governmental agencies have as much impact on peoples' lives as the PSC.' Despite this impact, PSC elections tend to have low visibility and voter turnout across Georgia. University of Georgia political science professor Charles Bullock attributes that partly to limited campaign capability. 'I've often said that most Georgians [are] probably not fully aware we have a public service commission, don't know that it has five members, and couldn't name a single one of them,' Bullock said. With limited campaign finances and awareness, it can be tough for candidates to reach voters. As a political scientist, Bullock said he often uses the PSC as an example when trying to identify what partisan division exists in the state. He says that when people vote for the PSC election with limited knowledge they tend to fall back on their preferred party. 'Georgia is still more Republican than Democratic, so I think ultimately, probably the incumbent Republicans are going to win,' Bullock said. 'It also helps that once we get to the general election ballot, it'll have the 'I' beside their name, indicating they are the incumbents.' In District 2, incumbent Commissioner Tim Echols is running for re-election. If elected, this would mark the beginning of his third term as a commissioner. Echols will face Lee Muns on the Republican ballot. Alicia M. Johnson is running uncontested on the Democratic ballot. District 2 goes as far north as Hart County and as far south as Savannah. In District 3, which includes Clayton, DeKalb, and Fulton counties, incumbent Commissioner Fitz Johnson is the sole candidate on the Republican ballot this month. Gov. Brian Kemp appointed Johnson to the seat in 2021. All the action in this race is on the Democratic side right now, with four candidates trying to clinch the nomination. Daniel Blackman, who served as the Environmental Protection Agency's Southeast regional administrator during the Biden administration, is fighting to remain a candidate. Blackman was disqualified after Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger agreed with an administrative court judge that he did not have the adequate residency qualifications to run. A Fulton County Superior Court judge granted an injunction allowing Blackman to remain on the ballot for now. A hearing on Blackman's appeal is set for June 10. Other Democratic candidates include Peter Hubbard, who is the founder of the clean nonprofit Center for Energy Solutions, former utility executive Robert Jones and Keisha Sean Waites, who is a former Atlanta City Council member and ex-state representative. The PSC primary is a partisan election and requires voters to choose a Democratic or Republican ballot. The primary election will not occur at the same time as any municipal elections. This will not be true for the general election. For cities with municipal general elections also occurring on Nov. 4, different ballots will be offered for each election. The partisan nature of the primary election often contributes to low voter turnout. 'Many people do not turn out for primaries,' said Travis Doss, president of the Georgia Association of Voter Registration and Election Officials and Richmond County's election director. 'They do not feel that they have an affiliation with a party, so there's always confusion when it comes to primaries. People argue with us that they should be able to vote for both sets of candidates.' This was true for a Richmond County woman who recently came in ready to cast her vote but ended up telling Doss that she would not be picking a party. A 2020 lawsuit brought forth by Black voters in Atlanta delayed years of PSC elections and challenged the electoral process that allows statewide voters to elect district-specific commissioners. Plaintiffs argued that this is a violation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act and dilutes the voting power of Black Georgians. The U.S. Supreme Court ultimately decided not to hear the case, and the at-large method of electing commissioners remains in place. Critics and consumer watch groups have continued to express concerns over rate prices, growing electricity demands and the spread of data centers. According to previous Georgia Recorder reporting, the average Georgia Power residential customer pays about $43 more to cover base electric rate increases, recover excess fuel expenses, and cover the cost of completing two new nuclear power generators at Plant Vogtle. PSC staff and Georgia Power reached a proposed agreement to 'freeze' base electric rates from 2026 to 2028. Critics have pointed out that Georgia Power customers could still see an increase on their utility bill after the approval of funds for storm damage and fuel recovery expenses. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Washington Post
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
Challengers argue Georgia's new maps still harm Black voters
ATLANTA — Challengers on Thursday told a federal appeals court that Georgia lawmakers are still violating Black voters' rights after redrawing the state's congressional and legislative maps. If judges uphold the challenges, they could order different district lines to be used in Georgia for the rest of the decade, making it possible that more districts would elect candidates favored by Black voters — usually Democrats.
Fox News
13-05-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Jasmine Crockett points to Kamala Harris' role as prosecutor as reason she had trouble with Black men
Print Close By Hanna Panreck Published May 13, 2025 Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, pointed to former Vice President Kamala Harris' role as a prosecutor on Monday as a reason why she didn't perform well with Black men in the 2024 election. Crockett appeared on The Chuck ToddCast with ex-NBC News host Chuck Todd, who asked the Democratic lawmaker if Black male voters were hesitant to vote for a woman. Harris served as a district attorney for San Francisco as well as California Attorney General before launching a bid for the Senate and ultimately serving as vice president. The former VP faced criticism from both sides of the political aisle over her prosecution record. "I definitely think that there was misogyny in this across the board no matter what color male you're talking about. I just think that you'd be in error to not like know that there was misogyny that existed," she said. "The very first polling briefing that we had, with a pollster that I trust a lot, he briefed the Black caucus, and he said that one of the issues that he was running into with Black and Brown communities was that she had been a prosecutor." BLACK GROUP FIRES BACK AT OBAMA FOR 'INSULTING' HARRIS PITCH: 'WORST KIND OF IDENTITY POLITICS' "There was definitely some resume stuff that disallowed her from being able to build the type of rapport of trust within these marginalized communities that historically have been targeted," she said. Crockett told Todd that she was given guidance to lean into Harris' background as a prosecutor, which she believed was not going to be helpful. "When I did it, I did a bit of a swing on it, right, as a criminal defense attorney, and I explained like this is the kind of prosecutor we all would have wanted, right? So, I built it that way," she added. Crockett said a prominent rapper told her he was uncomfortable openly endorsing Harris, citing her prosecution record. CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF MEDIA AND CULTURE "So he told me that one of the issues was just kind of like the prosecutor thing. And I said, and I made sure to talk about the things that we had been told move the needle with these groups, right? Like knowing that she had like second-chance programs and things like that, like letting them know that she was one of the good ones," she said. The lawmaker argued that the fact that Harris was a prosecutor was "baked in" and people didn't know much beyond that. "When you're talking about 107 days of a campaign, it's kind of hard to get that across," she added. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Crockett recently suggested Democrats were looking to run the "safest White boy" in 2028. "It is this fear that the people within the party, within the primary system, will have about voting for a woman because every time we voted for a woman, we've lost, so far," she said in a clip posted to Instagram. "And I think that that's a natural fear because we just want to win." The Democratic congresswoman added, "I had a donor on the phone with me telling me that all the donors are lining up behind that candidate. So I can tell, and I tell you, it's not a Black person, nor a woman, OK?" Print Close URL
Associated Press
12-05-2025
- Politics
- Associated Press
Federal court approves Mississippi legislative redistricting. Special elections will proceed
A panel of three federal judges has approved a revised legislative redistricting plan from the Mississippi Election Commission, which will allow special elections to move forward this year for 15 legislative seats. The court in April had ordered state officials to develop yet another legislative map to ensure Black voters in the DeSoto County area have a fair opportunity to elect candidates to the state Senate. The panel, comprised of U.S. District Judge Daniel Jordan, U.S. District Judge Sul Ozerden and U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Leslie Southwick, previously ruled that when lawmakers redrew their districts in 2022 to account for population shifts, they violated federal civil rights law because the maps diluted Black voting power. To remedy the violation, the court allowed the Legislature to propose a new House map redrawing House districts in the Chickasaw County area and a new Senate map redrawing districts in the DeSoto County and Hattiesburg areas. Earlier this year, during the 2025 session, the Legislature attempted to comply with the order and tweaked those districts. However, the plaintiffs still objected to parts of the Legislature's plan. The plaintiffs, the state chapter of the NAACP and Black voters from around the state, did not object to the Hattiesburg portion of the Senate plan. But they argued the Chickasaw County portion of the House plan and the DeSoto County portion of the Senate plan did not create a realistic opportunity for Black voters in those areas to elect their preferred candidates. The judges accepted the Chickasaw County redistricting portion. Still, they objected to the DeSoto County part because the Legislature's proposed DeSoto County solution 'yokes high-turnout white communities in the Hernando area of DeSoto County to several poorer, predominantly Black towns in the Mississippi Delta,' which would make it hard for Black voters to overcome white voting blocs. The panel, comprised of all George W. Bush-appointed judges, ordered state officials to, again, craft a new Senate map for the area in the suburbs of Memphis. The panel has held that none of the state's prior maps gave Black voters a realistic chance to elect candidates of their choice. The court in its latest ruling set deadlines and a schedule for special elections for Mississippi legislative seats impacted by the new maps. The deadline to publicize and share the maps with local election officials is May 12. Candidate qualification to run will run from June 2-9 and the slate of candidates will be submitted by June 13. Absentee voting for the Aug. 5 primaries will begin June 21. Absentee voting for general elections will begin Sept. 20 and general elections will be Nov. 4. ___ This story was originally published by Mississippi Today and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.
Reuters
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
Redrawn Alabama electoral map intentionally discriminatory, court rules
May 8 (Reuters) - A federal court ruled on Thursday that Alabama's Republican-led legislature intentionally discriminated against Black voters when it approved a new electoral map in 2023 that only had one majority-Black congressional district. In a 571-page ruling, opens new tab, a three-judge panel sharply criticized state lawmakers for drawing up a congressional map that mirrored one from 2021 that the judges and the U.S. Supreme Court had already concluded diluted the voting power of Black Alabamians in violation of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Rather than comply with a court order that the state craft a new map that include at least two majority-Black districts, the panel said the legislature "simply doubled down – it passed another map with only one Black-opportunity district." The panel, which included two judges appointed by Republican President Donald Trump, said it was unaware of a state legislature ever having responded to a court order in litigation over electoral maps in such a way. "The Legislature knew what federal law required and purposefully refused to provide it, in a strategic attempt to checkmate the injunction that ordered it," the panel wrote. The judges had previously issued a preliminary injunction blocking Alabama from using that new map defining the boundaries of its seven U.S. House of Representatives districts and subsequently required the state to use a court-approved map that had two Black-majority districts in the 2024 election. Voters subsequently for the first time in the state's history picked two Black representatives by re-electing Representative Terri Sewell and voting into office Representative Shomari Figures. Both are Democrats. Lawyers for Black voters and advocacy groups who challenged Alabama's map then asked to block the state's map from being used for the rest of the decade. U.S. Circuit Judge Stanley Marcus, an appointee of Democratic President Bill Clinton, and U.S. District Judges Anna Manasco and Terry Moorer, agreed to do so, saying the map not only still violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act but also the U.S. Constitution's Fourteenth Amendment. Deuel Ross, a lawyer for the plaintiffs at the Legal Defense Fund, in a statement said the ruling "reaffirms the rule of law and the importance of protecting the fundamental right to vote of Black Alabamians in the Black belt and all Americans." A spokesperson for Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, a Republican, said his office is reviewing the order, adding that "all options remain on the table."
