Percentages? So far, the early voter turnout in Bulloch County toward the June 17 special primary for two Georgia Public Service Commission seats would be better measured in thousandths. As of noon Tuesday, six and a half days into the 16-day early voting period, 91 registered voters had cast in-person ballots here, reported county Election Supervisor Shontay Jones.

What’s at stake? The Public Service Commission is a five-member elected panel that can approve or deny utility rate increases – such as those requested by the electric power companies. It also regulates natural gas to some extent and some aspects of telecommunications.

This is the first time a PSC election has been held in several years, after Atlanta-area plaintiffs brought a lawsuit asserting that the state’s method of electing the commission members – who must reside in specific districts but are elected statewide – violated the Voting Rights Act of 1965 by diluting the voting strength of black voters. A U.S. District judge agreed in 2022, but the federal Appeals Court overturned that ruling, and the Supreme Court declined to take up the case.

So, after not appearing on last November’s regular general election ballot, these seats are on a special election track this year. This first phase is a primary, or set of party primaries, so voters need to choose either a Democratic Party ballot or a Republican Party ballot. For the names of the candidates, read further below.

Early & Saturday

In Bulloch County, the only place to vote early in-person for this primary is the Board of Elections and Registration office at the County Annex, 113 North Main St., Suite 201, Statesboro.

The early voting opportunity began Tuesday, May 27 – the day after Memorial Day – and now continues 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday until Friday, June 13, plus 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, June 7. (Early voting opens an hour later on Saturday.)

This Saturday will in fact be the second and last of two state-mandated Saturdays for early voting in this election. But only six people voted in Bulloch County all day last Saturday, Jones said.

In-person early voting will end with whoever is in line and inside at 5 p.m. Friday, June 13.

For the actual Election Day, Tuesday, June 17, all 16 of Bulloch County’s traditional precincts will open from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. for their assigned voters who have not voted early, Jones confirmed.

This Friday, June 6, is the deadline for voters to file a request for a mailed absentee ballot. But absentee ballots that are completed and returned to the county election headquarters before 7 p.m. on Election Day, June 17, will be counted.

As of Tuesday, the Bulloch County elections staff had mailed out about 40 absentee ballots to people with a request on file, but only two such ballots had been returned. So, including early in-person voters and those two absentees, 93 local voters had participated by noon Tuesday.

At the most recent previous election, the March sales tax renewal referendum, Bulloch had 54,549 total registered voters. So early turnout in the PSC special primary, as of Tuesday morning, was about one fifth of 1%, or in other words, 2/1000ths.

Candidates by party

The Republican ballot offers voters a choice between incumbent Timothy Guy Echols, from Jackson County, and Republican challenger Lee Muns, a project manager from Columbia County, for the District 2 PSC seat, but only one candidate, incumbent Terrell Fitz Johnson Sr. of Fulton County, for the District 3 seat.

In contrast, the Democratic ballot offers four challenger candidates for the District 3 seat  – Daniel Blackman, a business owner and investor from Forsyth County; Peter Jacob Hubbard, a clean energy advocate from DeKalb County; Robert Leslie Jones, a technology advisor from DeKalb County; and Keisha Sean Waites, a former state legislator from Fulton County. But the Democrats have only one candidate for the District 2 seat, Alicia Monique Johnson, a consultant from Chatham County.

With four Democratic candidates for the District 3 seat, a Democratic Party runoff on July 15 is possible for two of those candidates if none gets more than 50% of the vote. Their winner from either the June 17 primary or the July 15 runoff will then advance to challenge Terrell Johnson, the incumbent and only District 3 Republican, in the Nov. 4 special general election.