Turnout was low for Georgia’s pair of contested Public Service Commission primary elections Tuesday, with only 202,000 Georgians – about 2.4% of the state’s eligible voters – casting ballots.
On the Republican side incumbent Commissioner Tim Echols made short work of his primary challenger, taking home 76% of the vote over Lee Muns. He will face off with Democrat Alicia Johnson for the District 2 seat, (remember though; PSC seats are all voted on statewide) in November.
The more contested race was the District 3 Democratic primary, featuring three candidates and a fourth, Daniel Blackman, who was disqualified from the race after early voting had already begun when it was found he hadn’t lived in the district for long enough.
Former Atlanta City Councilwoman Keisha Sean Waites received the most votes in the race, but at 46% didn’t quite manage to edge over the 50% needed to avoid a runoff. She will be joined by Peter Hubbard, chief executive of Georgia Center for Energy Solutions, in a runoff election July 15. The winner of that election will run against Republican Commissioner Fitz Johnson in November’s general election.
Expect the general election to get a lot more heated, and have a lot higher turnout, as the calendar ticks towards fall.
