DOJ Flags 'Standard Remedy' for Ga. PSC Elections

The U.S. disagreed with Georgia’s defense of electing Public Service Commission members for specific districts on a statewide, at-large basis. At the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Georgia’s state secretary argued that partisanship, not race, explained election results that have led to mainly white commissioners over the years, and federal courts can’t force new government models on states (see 2210200035). A lower court found that Georgia’s elections system for the PSC illegally dilutes Black votes in violation of Section 2 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. The 11th Circuit should reject the state’s “argument that plaintiffs’ Section 2 vote-dilution claim fails because the racially polarized voting patterns in Commission elections are purportedly correlated with partisan preferences,” DOJ wrote in a Wednesday amicus brief in case 22-12593. While courts may consider evidence of political preferences, “such evidence can defeat a Section 2 vote-dilution claim only when the evidence proves that, despite apparent racial polarization, minority-preferred candidates have the potential to succeed under the existing electoral framework,” it said. “The district court did not clearly err in concluding that the Secretary failed to meet that difficult standard.” DOJ disagreed no remedy is available. “Single-member districting is the standard remedy for vote dilution caused by an at-large system,” it said. “The district court did not clearly err in concluding that Georgia lacks sufficiently compelling interests to justify the continued use of its current method of electing Commission members.”