This coverage is made possible through a partnership between WABE and Grist, a nonprofit environmental media organization.
While any election brings ads, events, door-knocking and other efforts to remind people to get to the polls, this year campaign workers involved in the state Public Service Commission races have another hurdle: education.
Climate and environment organizers gathered in Atlanta last weekend to strategize and mobilize voters ahead of November’s election for two seats on the Georgia PSC. Dubbed “Watts at Stake,” the event brought together organizers, community leaders and influencers to hear about the importance of the somewhat obscure state agency — a message the speakers view as critical this election cycle.
“If you ask most people, they don’t know what the PSC is,” said Russell Armstrong with Black Futures Lab, a group focused on leveraging Black electoral power.
But, Armstrong and others said, voters care about what the PSC does, once they understand it.
The commission regulates utilities in Georgia, including overseeing Georgia Power’s plans and rates – and power bills are climbing. That motivates voters, according to strategists across the political spectrum.
“That’s a galvanizing, dare I say energizing, message that will get Georgia voters out,” said Carmen Bergman, an advisor to incumbent Republican Fitz Johnson’s campaign.
Helping people make that connection between their power bills and the two seats on the ballot this year is an all-out, statewide effort. Groups like Georgia Conservation Voters, one of the organizers of last weekend’s summit, said they are holding both virtual and in-person
town halls to educate voters. Black Futures Lab has volunteers knocking on doors and is holding a series of events in South Georgia.
“The main thing is showing people that, hey, we hold the power, we hold the keys to this election and every other election from here to come,” said Omega Calhoun, who spearheads their efforts in Valdosta.
Bergman said the Johnson campaign is taking an “all of the above” approach to getting the word out, including events, canvassing and ads.
“There’s going to be no stone left unturned to make sure voters know that there is a difference on the ballot,” she said.
This kind of effort is pretty novel for a down-ballot race in Georgia, according to Georgia State University public policy professor Tammy Greer. Voters would benefit from more education and engagement in other races, too, she said, including lieutenant governor and the commissioners of insurance, labor and agriculture.
“These spaces have so much policy implications over people in the state that we really don’t pay attention to,” Greer said. “If we paid closer attention to their platforms then perhaps we can start electing individuals that are looking out for all of our best interests.”
This is also an unusual year for a typically low-profile election because the PSC seats are the only statewide races on the ballot, but there are local elections in some of the major cities, including Atlanta. So while Georgia’s Republican-leaning rural areas often carry state elections, without a governor’s race or even mayoral race to get many rural voters to the polls, Greer said, Democratic voters in cities could decide the PSC races.
“And I think that the folks on the commission understand that,” Greer said. “They understand the tide is changing.”
She pointed to the PSC’s unanimous vote earlier this year to temporarily freeze power rates as a sign the five current commissioners know that high power bills are driving voters and that what Greer called “a bit of dissent” could soon join the currently all-Republican commission.
PSC election basics
One of the biggest jobs for the Georgia PSC is regulating Georgia Power. That includes how power is made – which has an impact on climate change because power plants are a major source of emissions – and how much energy costs, which affects the millions of Georgians who get their electricity from the company.
There are five statewide elected commissioners who serve staggered terms. Currently they are all Republicans. This year, incumbents Tim Echols and Fitz Johnson are up for election. Johnson is running against Democrat Peter Hubbard and Echols is facing Democrat Alicia Johnson.
These are the first PSC elections since the 2020 runoff because of a Voting Rights Act lawsuit challenging the election structure, which ultimately failed when the U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up the issue. Because of the delays, three commissioners – Echols and Johnson as well as Tricia Pridemore – continue to serve and vote on key issues like new gas turbines and the recent rate freeze past the original lengths of the terms.
The delayed elections also prompted state lawmakers to lay out a new election schedule for all five seats that extends the terms of all the current commissioners. A lawsuit challenging that schedule is due before a judge this month.