A new lawsuit argues that extending Georgia’s civil service commissioners’ terms by six years violates the state constitution.
ATLANTA — Two groups filed a lawsuit Wednesday to overturn a law extending the terms of Georgia’s Civil Service Commissioners, arguing that extending the terms of the five Republican members beyond six years violates the state constitution.
The Georgia WAND Education Fund, the Georgia Environmental Voter Education Fund and Brionte McCorkle, executive director of the environmental group, filed the lawsuit in federal court in Atlanta. They argue that the law passed this year also violates due process rights under the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger is a defendant because he oversees the elections.
The Public Utilities Commission regulates the rates Georgia electric companies and some natural gas companies can charge. The commission has allowed Georgia Power, a subsidiary of Atlanta-based Southern Co., to raise rates in recent years. Kim Scott, executive director of Georgia WAND, said voters should have a say in rate increases.
“We have been stripped of our right to vote for the people, the commissioners, who will protect and fulfill our mission of providing safe, reliable and fair electricity, gas and communications to the people of Georgia,” Scott said.
The commission’s elections were frozen after McCorkle was one of four plaintiffs in a separate lawsuit that argued that the five commissioners were statewide elected, illegally weakening the power of black voters. A federal district court said statewide voting was discriminatory, but the ruling could have been a landmark decision if it had stood. It would have required district-by-district elections and sparked challenges to statewide elected bodies in other states with large black voters. But the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the decision, and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case.
Georgia lawmakers this year extended the terms of the all-Republican commissioners by two years, expecting the courts to order a reopening of the election following a ruling by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, before eventually rolling back the commissioners’ terms to six years.
The plaintiffs say it is extremely ironic that a lawsuit aimed at increasing representation on the commission would result in longer terms for commissioners without any elections being held at all.
The extra years could mean that when elections are rescheduled, a majority of the committee seats will not be elected at the same time, meaning Democrats will not be able to take power in a single election.
Commissioners Tim Echols and Fitz Johnson remain on the board despite having planned to run for office in 2022. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in April that the state could reschedule elections, but Raffensperger had already said it was too late to schedule elections for them, as well as for Commissioner Tricia Pridemore, whose term expires this year.
Under the new law, Echols and Johnson will run for election in 2025. Johnson was scheduled to be appointed to the commission in 2021, run for the final two years of his predecessor’s term in 2022, then run again in 2024. But he will instead run for another six-year term in 2026. Echols will serve five years until 2030, meaning he will face voters just twice in 14 years, then revert to a standard six-year term.
Pridemore’s term will be extended to eight years, running through 2026. Commissioners Jason Shaw and Bubba McDonald, who are up for re-election in 2026, will instead serve until 2028. Their positions will then revert to six-year terms.
Brian Sells, an attorney working on the case, said it’s common sense that a simple law can’t override the Georgia Constitution, and that at least two previous federal court cases have held that constitutional provisions can’t be extended or shortened.
“When states violate the right to vote under state law, they also violate federal law and the federal right to due process,” Sells said.
Sells said Echols, Johnson and Pridemore should each call an election as soon as possible. He also said the secretary of state should set a schedule that includes a special party primary and a special general election, with runoff elections after each if necessary. Sells said the primary could take place as early as November.
“The overall point is that elections should be held quickly,” Sells said.
