Over 1.5 million Georgians cast ballots Tuesday in an election anchored by two Public Service Commission seats and hundreds of municipal contests across the state.
Why It Matters: The 21.7% turnout for an off-year election reveals what motivates Georgians to vote when the marquee races aren’t on the ballot. That figure represents roughly one in five of the state’s 7.2 million active registered voters—a number that varied wildly depending on where you lived and what was on your ballot.
What’s Happening: Metro Atlanta dominated participation. Fulton County had 31% turnout. Suburban and exurban counties posted similar numbers, driven by local school board races, city council contests, and a pair of statewide Public Service Commission seats that became a referendum on Georgia Power’s rate hikes.
Rural counties settled around 15%. Only 8% of Georgians voted early, and wait times at most precincts never exceeded 10 minutes. The day was marked by light turnout across the state.
The two PSC races drew the most attention. Democrats flipped both seats with roughly 60% of the vote. But nearly 1,000 municipal contests shared the ballot, including mayoral races in Atlanta, Sandy Springs, Roswell, Marietta, and South Fulton.
Between the Lines: Atlanta’s turnout got a boost from a court-ordered extension. A Fulton County Superior Court judge ruled that polling places in the city could stay open until 8 p.m. instead of 7 p.m. due to technical delays earlier in the day. Votes cast after 7 p.m. counted only for municipal races, not the statewide PSC contests.
Atlanta’s 2021 municipal election drew just 25% turnout despite an 84% voter registration rate. Georgia law requires municipal elections in odd-numbered years, a schedule that research suggests contributes to lower participation due to voter fatigue.
The Big Picture: Georgia doesn’t usually hold statewide elections in odd years. The PSC races appeared on Tuesday’s ballot only because a federal voting rights lawsuit delayed them from 2022. A judge ruled that the commission’s at-large election system violated the Voting Rights Act by diluting Black voting power. The 11th Circuit eventually allowed the elections to proceed.
With no PSC elections since 2020, the combination of pent-up voter interest and rising electricity costs—Georgia Power raised rates six times in two years—created unusual visibility for races that typically struggle for attention.
B.T. Clark
B.T. Clark is an award-winning journalist and the Publisher of The Georgia Sun. He has 25 years of experience in journalism and served as Managing Editor of Neighbor Newspapers in metro Atlanta for 15 years and Digital Director at Times-Journal Inc. for 8 years. His work has appeared in several newspapers throughout the state including Neighbor Newspapers, The Cherokee Tribune and The Marietta Daily Journal. He is a Georgia native and a fifth-generation Georgian.
