Every two years, Georgia holds a partisan election for a statewide office, Public Service Commissioner. On August 5, U.S. District Court Judge Steven D. Grimberg, a Trump appointee, enjoined the state from holding any future elections for Public Service Commissioner on a statewide basis. Instead, future elections for that office must be from districts. Rose v Raffensperger, n.d., 1:20cv-2921.
The state already has five districts, but the only purpose of the districts is to set up residency requirements, so that the Commission has a member from each of the five districts. The elections themselves are statewide.
The order cancels the two elections for Public Service Commissioner that were set to be held this year. The incumbents will remain in office. The basis for the order is the federal Voting Rights Act.
Switching the elections from statewide offices to district offices means that the Libertarian Party will no longer be ballot-qualified for Public Service Commissioner elections. Under the completely irrational Georgia ballot access law, parties that poll 1% of the registered voters (approximately 2% of the turnout) are on the ballot for all statewide offices, but only parties that polled 20% of the vote for President in the entire nation, or 20% for Governor of Georgia, are on the ballot for district office. A candidate for a future Public Service Commissioner district election who is not a Republican or a Democrat would need approximately 80,000 signatures.
So in all counties in Indiana except for Indianapolis’s county there are 3 County Commissioners that act as the executive branch for the county. It likewise has districts for purpose of establishing residency but the Commissioners are elected on a countywide basis. I guess if someone wanted to challenge on similar grounds it’d get declared unconstitutional.
One more perversion of the 15th Amdt via the 1965 VRA.
NOOOO *results* in the 15th Amdt.
Only *negative* stuff re definition of electors-voters.
15-1 obviously derived from 14-2.
This decision is very bad for the Georgia Libertarian Party. In 2024, the only statewide race on the ballot will be President now. The LP presidential candidate would need to get a vote total of 1% of registered voters (likely greater than 80,000). The only presidential candidate to ever meet this threshold in GA was Gary Johnson in 2016. The way things are going in the LP, it seems likely that the party will nominate a fringe candidate with little appeal. So, there’s a really good chance the LPGA will lose ballot status in 2024, requiring a massive and expensive ballot drive for 2026.
David is correct. But on the other hand, this change makes it abundantly clear that the Georgia ballot access law is idiotic. Why should the Libertarian Party be deemed on the ballot for Public Service Commission when it is a statewide office, and off the ballot for the same office if it to be elected by district? I hope and believe that this will help us persuade the US Supreme Court to hear the Cowen case, the ballot access case.
@Ryan,
It appears that the commissioners in Lake County are elected by district voters. This might be a result of a court order, since it is likely that the district containing Gary is majority black. The districts in Lake County are drawn by a state body which is apparently unique for the county.
How many special local const sections / state laws that especially subvert 4-4 RFG and/or 14-1 Amdt EP cl
— even worse than general general const sections / laws ???
[esp in state capitols and major urban areas]
“@Ryan,
It appears that the commissioners in Lake County are elected by district voters. This might be a result of a court order, since it is likely that the district containing Gary is majority black. The districts in Lake County are drawn by a state body which is apparently unique for the county.”
Was unaware of that about Lake, although Lake is the county in the state after Marion (Indianapolis) that most has its own set of laws.
In Allen County (Fort Wayne), they had a measure on the ballot 2014 or 2016 to switch the 3-member County Commissioner Executive to a single individual on the grounds of get rid of supposed Commissioner infighting. It failed spectacularly, something like 30-70 margin. If the residency by district, elected countywide ever got declared unconstitutional I could see the state en masse going single individual executive route
@Ryan,
The provision to require district voters to vote for commissioners is in IC 36-2-2-5. Lake and St.Joseph are bracketed out (St. Joseph has grown past 270,000 so the bracket will have to be changed. In 2010, Hamilton (northern suburbs of Indianapolis) was just above 270,000 so the bracket was set between Lake and Hamilton).
None of IC 36-2-2 applies to Marion, by IC 36-2-2-1, since the government of Marion County and Indianapolis have been consolidated.
IC 36-2-2-4(b) provides for redistricting in Lake County. Note that the “county redistricting commission” is actually comprised of the state elections commission.
IC 36-2-2-4(a) the general rule does not literally require equal population. This might not be required under equal protection since all voters of a county get to vote for all commissioners.
IC 36-2-2-5(c) which applies to St. Joseph is likely related to the relative population of South Bend and the county. In 1960, South Bend had 55% of the population. If South Bend were one district, then the voters in South Bend could dominate the election of commissioners for Mishawaka and the more rural areas.
The Lake County provisions might be in response to a VRA lawsuit, or concern that Democrats could choose all three commissioners, including the southern part of the county. If that part of the county was electing Republican legislators, they might have agitated for a change that would have received a favorable reception in a Republican dominated legislature.
Incidentally, there is a VRA lawsuit concerning the election of judges in Lake County that was filed last year.
“The provision to require district voters to vote for commissioners is in IC 36-2-2-5. Lake and St.Joseph are bracketed out (St. Joseph has grown past 270,000 so the bracket will have to be changed. In 2010, Hamilton (northern suburbs of Indianapolis) was just above 270,000 so the bracket was set between Lake and Hamilton).”
Allen (Fort Wayne) is larger than St. Joseph. Allen was the 3rd largest county in the state until Hamilton passed it. I used to live in Fort Wayne, I guess I didn’t realize the Commissioners were by district but only the district voted as well. My present county in the surrounding area i t’s a countywide election.Not sure how the census came out but looking at election results in the past, Fort Wayne is about two-thirds of all voters in the county.
Lake County which befits its political reputation is real screwy. The state had to step in recently to consolidate a bunch of small precincts that was probably how certain county party chairs that ran the county like a machine used to stay in control. Lake is really changing though. I’d be shocked if Mrvan lost in November, but that it’s a strong possibility is still a shockwave for a region that has been reliably voting Democrat for Congress the last 90 years and was the vote-winning bedrock the rest of the Indiana Democratic Party statewide could count on. Even if Indianapolis and Hamilton County trend blue, it nets out to nothing statewide if Lake County trends red.
@Ryan,
I may have confused you. Many states have restrictionx on making special laws for individual counties, corporations, cities, persons, etc. But they can get around that by specifying some characteristic.
They can specify a population bracket. So that counties with a population between 400,000 and 700,000 elect commissioners by district. You look at population figures and discover that 700,000 is less than the population of Marion, and 400,000 is more than the population of Allen (and Hamilton). The provision only applies to Lake without it saying that it applies to “Lake”.
There is another special provision that applies to counties with a population between 250,000 and 270,000. 270,000 is smaller than Hamilton. 250,000 is larger than Elkhart. It only applies to St.Joseph without saying that.
Allen continues to elect commissioners countywide, just like 88 other counties (all but Marion, Lake, and St.Joseph).
The commissioner districts in Allen County chop Fort Wayne. Imagine a rectangular pan cake with a decorative map of Fort Wayne in the west central. Chop off a big section of the eastern part of the cake including part of Fort Wayne. Then cut the remaining part along an east-west line to make two rough squares. One contains northern Fort Wayne and one contains southern Fort Wayne.
I was reading about the small precincts. If you have a couple hundred voters, there is a good chance the election clerks are less competent, plus they won’t keep up ant election changes.
I’m aware of the population chop-offs for laws and they’re beyond dumb. Fort Wayne sometime the past 20 years crossed the Unigov threshold for Indianapolis/Marion that was setup when Lugar was Mayor. It’s kind of ridiculous of natural county growth (or decline) we’re supposed to snap our fingers and completely change the political structure of the county.
It sounds like this could work out well for the GOP. I like it. Let’s give the district system a try before we knock it.