Keisha Sean Waites won the Democrat runoff last week in Ware County for District 3 on the Georgia Public Service Commission, the official vote report shows.
Waites collected 79 votes in early balloting and on Tuesday, July 15 to easily outdistance challenger Peter Hubbard, who had 44. The 123 votes cast in the runoff represented .059 percent of Ware County’s 20,936 registered voters.
A total of 90 votes came in person advance with another four absentee by mail. There only were 29 votes cast July 15 at the county’s lone voting location in the C.C. McCray City Auditorium.
Waites didn’t fare as well statewide as Hubbard earned the nomination by more than 18,000 votes.
The professed clean energy advocate totaled 66,084 votes (58.2 percent) to 47,501 for Waites. The decisive victory advances Hubbard to November’s general election where he will face Republican incumbent Commissioner Fitz Johnson.
Johnson ran unopposed after being appointed to the post in 2021 by Gov. Brian Kemp. The winner of this year’s election November 4 will serve a oneyear term and be back on the ballot again next year.
The District 2 seat also will be on the November ballot with Republican incumbent Tim Echols facing Alicia M. Johnson. Currently, all five PSC seats are held by Republicans.
November’s winners will be the first elected commissioners since 2020. Regularly scheduled PSC elections were delayed after a 2020 lawsuit challenged the statewide electoral process and its impact on black voters. The lawsuit is currently pending with the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and still has the potential to cause additional delays.
The commission regulates utilities like Georgia Power and plays an important role in deciding how much Georgians pay for those services.
