Lawsuit claims that delayed elections for Georgia utility regulator are unconstitutional

Two groups on Wednesday sued to overturn a law extending the elected terms of Georgia's public service commissioners, saying it violates the state constitution for the five Republicans to be allowed to serve terms longer than six years.

Georgia WAND Education Fund, Georgia Conservation Voters Education Fund and Brionte McCorkle, the executive director of the conservation group, filed the suit in federal court in Atlanta. They allege that the law passed this year also violates their due-process rights under the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger is the defendant because he oversees elections.

The Public Service Commission regulates what Georgia Power Co. and some natural gas companies can charge. In recent years, it has allowed Georgia Power, a unit of Atlanta-based Southern Co., to raise its rates. Kim Scott, Georgia WAND's executive director, said voters should get a say on those rising rates.

"We have been stripped of our right to be able to vote for people, commissioners, that will live up and adhere to their mission, which is providing safe, reliable and equitable power, gas and telecom for Georgians," Scott said.

Commission elections were frozen after a different lawsuit, in which McCorkle was one of four plaintiffs, claimed that the power of Black voters was illegally diluted because the five commissioners are elected statewide. A federal district court said such statewide votes were discriminatory, which could have been a groundbreaking ruling if it stood. It would have mandated elections by district, potentially sparking challenges to statewide elected bodies in other states with large numbers of Black voters. But the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the ruling, and the U.S. Supreme Court refused to consider the case.

Anticipating that a court would order elections to resume after the 11th Circuit ruling, Georgia lawmakers this year added an extra two years to the current terms of commissioners on the all-Republican body. Each will eventually revert to six-year terms.

Plaintiffs have said it's bitterly ironic that a lawsuit intended to force more representation on the body has resulted in commissioners getting more years on the board with no elections at all.

The extra years could prevent a majority of the commission seats from being elected at the same time when elections resume, meaning Democrats couldn't take control in one election.

Commissioners Tim Echols and Fitz Johnson were supposed to run in 2022 but remain on the commission today. The 11th Circuit ruled in April that the state could resume elections. But Raffensperger had already said it was too late to schedule an election for them and for Commissioner Tricia Pridemore, whose term expires this year.

Under the new law, Echols and Johnson would stand for election in 2025. Johnson was appointed to the commission in 2021 and was supposed to run for the last two years of his predecessor's term in 2022, before running again in 2024. Instead, he would run again for a six-year term in 2026. Echols would serve for five years, until 2030, facing voters only twice in 14 years, before resuming regular six-year terms.

Pridemore would see her term extended until 2026, serving for eight years. Commissioners Jason Shaw and Bubba McDonald, scheduled for reelection in 2026, would instead serve until 2028. Their positions would then revert to six-year terms.

Bryan Sells, the attorney handling the lawsuit, said it's common sense that a simple law can't override the Georgia Constitution. He said at least two previous federal court cases have also found that terms set out in the constitution can't be extended or shortened.

"When the state violates the right to vote under state law, it also violates federal law, and violates the federal right to due process," Sells said.

Sells said Echols, Johnson and Pridemore should each face election as soon as possible. He said the secretary of state should set a schedule including special party primaries and a special general election, with runoffs after each as needed. Sells said the primaries might be able to take place as early as November.

"The general point is that the elections should happen quickly," Sells said.