On August 19, the Secretary of State of Georgia informed the Eleventh Circuit that he wishes to withdraw his request to reinstate Public Service Commissioner elections for the November 2022 ballot. The Eleventh Circuit approved his request. Therefore, the two races for Public Service Commission won’t be on the November 2022 ballot, even though the state already let the Democratic and Republican Parties nominate for this office in their 2022 primaries, and even though the Libertarian Party nominating convention had also nominated someone for one race.

The incumbent Commissioners will now serve additional time, even though their terms had been expiring.

The case is still alive, and future proceedings will determine whether the at-large elections violate the federal Voting Rights Act. But it seems likely that the U.S. District Court will rule in favor of district elections.

This event highlights the irrationality of the Georgia ballot access law relating to minor parties. When the office was elected statewide, the Libertarian Party was allowed to have its nominees on the November ballot with no petition. But assuming that in the future, this office will be elected on a district basis, any Libertarian who wants to run (or the nominee of any other third party) will need about 70,000 signatures. Yet the duties of the office have not changed. Perhaps this ludicrous aspect of Georgia ballot access law can be mentioned in the U.S. Supreme Court pleadings in Cowen v Rafflesperger, the Libertarian pending ballot access case. 22-101.

On August 19, the U.S. Supreme Court rebuked the Eleventh Circuit for staying a U.S. District Court on the subject of Georgia Public Service Commissioner elections. Georgia elects Public Service Commissioners on a statewide basis. In 2020 some Georgia voters had filed a lawsuit arguing that the at-large methods injures Black voters. Earlier this year, the U.S. District Court had ruled in favor of those voters, and had told Georgia not to hold general elections for that office this year (even though that office had been on the ballot in the 2022 primaries).

The Eleventh Circuit then stayed the U.S. District Court order and told the state to hold the two elections (two seats are up this year).

Now the U.S. Supreme Court has said that the Eleventh Circuit’s rationale for reversing the U.S. District Court, the Purcell Principle, was improper. The “Purcell Principle” is a doctrine that courts should not change election administration procedures too close to an election.

The U.S. Supreme Court says the Eleventh Circuit is still free to stop the Public Service Commissioner elections on other grounds, if it wishes to. But it must not use the Purcell Principle. Here is the U.S. Supreme Court order.

This Anchorage Daily News story says the 2023 session of the legislature is likely to consider bills altering the top-four system. Thanks to Scott Kohlhaas for the link.