The Magna Carta was sealed by King John on June 15, 1215.
The charter consisted of a preamble and 63 clauses and dealt mainly with feudal concerns that had little impact outside 13th century England. However, the document was remarkable in that it implied there were laws the king was bound to observe, thus precluding any future claim to absolutism by the English monarch. Of greatest interest to later generations was clause 39, which stated that “no free man shall be arrested or imprisoned or disseised [dispossessed] or outlawed or exiled or in any way victimised…except by the lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land.” This clause has been celebrated as an early guarantee of trial by jury and of habeas corpus and inspired England’s Petition of Right (1628) and the Habeas Corpus Act (1679).
On June 14, 1736, James Oglethorpe ordered plans to be drawn for a new city to be called Augusta.
On June 16, 1736, General James Oglethorpe arrived in England with Tomochichi, the Yamacraw Indian chief, Tomochichi’s wife and several other members of the tribe on a trip to meet the Georgia Trustees and King George II.
The first Georgia-Florida war game weekend began on June 12, 1740, as Georgia founder James Oglethorpe led 400 soldiers landing opposite the Spanish fort at St. Augustine.
On June 15, 1740, Spanish troops attacked the English who were led by James Oglethorpe, at Fort Mose, two miles north of St. Augustine, Florida. With 68 English killed and 34 wounded, it was the heaviest losses sustained by Oglethorpe during his campaign against St. Augustine.
On June 17, 1759, Sir Francis Drake claimed California for England.
A “Liberty Tree” was planted in Savannah on June 13, 1775 to symbolize support for independence. The first liberty tree was an elm in Boston that became a meeting spot for patriots, but Savannah’s was actually a Liberty Pole. In 2006, a seedling grown from the last of the original Liberty Trees on the campus of St. John’s College in Annapolis, Maryland was planted in Dalton, Georgia.
The Marquis de Lafayette arrived in South Carolina to assist General George Washington on June 13, 1775.
Happy birthday to the United States Army, established on June 14, 1775.
George Washington accepted the assignment of leading the Continental Army on June 15, 1775.
On June 11, 1776, the Continental Congress appointed Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, John Adams of Massachusetts, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, Roger Sherman of Connecticut and Robert R. Livingston of New York to draft a declaration of independence from Britain. Language in the original draft that condemned the introduction of the slave trade in the colonies did not make the final draft.
On June 17, 1775, British forces under General William Howe engaged American colonists at the Battle of Bunker Hill.
On June 17, some 2,200 British forces under the command of Major General William Howe (1729-1814) and Brigadier General Robert Pigot (1720-96) landed on the Charlestown Peninsula then marched to Breed’s Hill. As the British advanced in columns against the Americans, Prescott, in an effort to conserve the Americans’ limited supply of ammunition, reportedly told his men, “Don’t fire until you see the whites of their eyes!” When the Redcoats were within several dozen yards, the Americans let loose with a lethal barrage of musket fire, throwing the British into retreat.
After re-forming their lines, the British attacked again, with much the same result. Prescott’s men were now low on ammunition, though, and when the Redcoats went up the hill for a third time, they reached the redoubts and engaged the Americans in hand-to-hand combat. The outnumbered Americans were forced to retreat. However, by the end of the engagement, the Patriots’ gunfire had cut down some 1,000 enemy troops, with more than 200 killed and more than 800 wounded. More than 100 Americans perished, while more than 300 others were wounded.
A distant ancestor of mine, John Logue, fought with the Americans at Bunker Hill, though he was not yet an enlisted soldier.
The Virginia Convention adopted George Mason’s “Declaration of Rights” on June 12, 1776. From Wikipedia:
The Declaration was adopted unanimously by the Fifth Virginia Convention at Williamsburg, Virginia on June 12, 1776 as a separate document from the Constitution of Virginia which was later adopted on June 29, 1776. In 1830, the Declaration of Rights was incorporated within the Virginia State Constitution as Article I, but even before that Virginia’s Declaration of Rights stated that it was ‘”the basis and foundation of government” in Virginia. A slightly updated version may still be seen in Virginia’s Constitution, making it legally in effect to this day.
It was initially drafted by George Mason circa May 20, 1776; James Madison assisted him with the section on religious freedom.
The Virginia Declaration of Rights heavily influenced later documents. Thomas Jefferson is thought to have drawn on it when he drafted the United States Declaration of Independence in the same month (June 1776). James Madison was also influenced by the Declaration while drafting the Bill of Rights (introduced September 1789, ratified 1791), as was the Marquis de Lafayette in voting the French Revolution‘s Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (1789).
The importance of the Virginia Declaration of Rights is that it was the first constitutional protection of individual rights, rather than protecting only members of Parliament or consisting of simple laws that can be changed as easily as passed.
On June 14, 1777, the Continental Congress adopted a resolution, “the flag of the United States be thirteen alternate stripes red and white” and that “the Union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new Constellation.” One hundred years later, on June 14, 1877, was the first observance of Flag Day.
Abraham Baldwin, founder of the University of Georgia, arrived in Philadelphia on June 11, 1787 to attend the Constitutional Convention. Baldwin was joined by three other delegates, William Few Jr., William Houston, and William Pierce; Baldwin and Few would sign the Constitution on behalf of Georgia.
The Oregon Treaty was signed on June 15, 1815 between England and the United States, establishing the border between the U.S. and Canada.
On June 16, 1858, Abraham Lincoln addressed the Illiniois Republican Convention as a candidate for U.S. Senate and warned that “a house divided against itself cannot stand.”
On June 15, 1864, a funeral was held at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Atlanta for Confederate General Leonidas Polk, who was killed the day before at Pine Mountain near Marietta.
President Andrew Johnson appointed John Johnson (no relation) provisional Governor of Georgia after the Civil War on June 17, 1865; John Johnson had opposed secession.
The Atlanta Constitution was first published on June 16, 1868.
On June 12, 1924, George Herbert Walker Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts.
France announced its intention to surrender to Germany on June 17, 1940.
Newton Leroy Gingrich was born on June 17, 1943 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Gingrich graduated from college at Emory University, where he founded the Emory College Republicans. Gingrich’s congressional papers are collected in the the Georgia’s Political Heritage Program at West Georgia College, where he taught before being elected to Congress. Also at West Georgia are the papers of former Congressmen Bob Barr, Mac Collins, and Pat Swindall, along with a near-perfect replica of Georgia Speaker Tom Murphy’s office.
On June 11, 1963, President John F. Kennedy issued proclamation 3542 ordering Governor George Wallace of Alabama to allow two African-American students to register at the University of Alabama, as ordered by a federal court.
On the morning of June 11, the day the students were expected to register, Wallace stood in front of the University of Alabama campus auditorium flanked by Alabama state troopers while cameras flashed and recorders from the press corps whirred. Kennedy, at the White House, and Deputy Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach, in Tuscaloosa, kept in touch by phone.
When Wallace refused to let the students enter for registration, Katzenbach phoned Kennedy. Kennedy upped the pressure on Wallace, immediately issuing Presidential Proclamation 3542, which ordered the governor to comply, and authorizing the secretary of defense to call up the Alabama National Guard with Executive Order 11111.
That afternoon, Katzenbach returned with the students and asked Wallace to step aside. Wallace, knowing he was beaten, relented, having saved face with his hard-line, anti-segregation constituency.
Bob Dylan recorded “Like a Rolling Stone” on June 16, 1965.
On June 13, 1966, the United States Supreme Court released its decision in Miranda v. Arizona. In Miranda, the Court held that a confession obtained by police without informing the suspect of his rights against self-incrimination (Fifth Amendment) and to the service of a lawyer (Sixth Amendment) was inadmissible.
Thurgood Marshall was appointed to the Supreme Court by President Lyndon B. Johnson on June 13, 1967.
As the NAACP’s chief counsel from 1938 to 1961, he argued 32 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, successfully challenging racial segregation, most notably in public education. He won 29 of these cases, including a groundbreaking victory in 1954′s Brown v. Board of Education, in which the Supreme Court ruled that segregation violated the 14th Amendment to the Constitution and was thus illegal. The decision served as a great impetus for the African American civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s and ultimately led to the abolishment of segregation in all public facilities and accommodations.
In 1961, President John F. Kennedy appointed Marshall to the U.S. Court of Appeals, but his nomination was opposed by many Southern senators, and he was not confirmed until the next year. In June 1967, President Johnson nominated him to the Supreme Court, and in late August he was confirmed. During his 24 years on the high court, Associate Justice Marshall consistently challenged discrimination based on race or sex, opposed the death penalty, and supported the rights of criminal defendants. He also defended affirmative action and women’s right to abortion. As appointments by a largely Republican White House changed the politics of the Court, Marshall found his liberal opinions increasingly in the minority. He retired in 1991, and two years later passed away.
The Monterey Pop Festival opened at the Monterey Fairgrounds on June 16, 1967, often considered one of the opening events of the “Summer of Love.” Among the artists playing the Festival were the Jefferson Airplane, The Who, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, and Macon-born Otis Redding.
Six Flags Over Georgia opened on June 16, 1967.
The New York Times began publishing excerpts from the “Pentagon Papers” on June 13, 1971.
After failing to persuade the Times to voluntarily cease publication on June 14, Attorney General John N. Mitchell and Nixon obtained a federal court injunction forcing the Times to cease publication after three articles.Times publisher Arthur Ochs Sulzberger said:
Newspapers, as our editorial said this morning, we’re really a part of history that should have been made available, considerably longer ago. I just didn’t feel there was any breach of national security, in the sense that we were giving secrets to the enemy.
The newspaper appealed the injunction, and the case New York Times Co. v. United States (403 U.S. 713) quickly rose through the U.S. legal system to the Supreme Court.
On June 18, 1971, The Washington Post began publishing its own series of articles based upon the Pentagon Papers; Ellsberg gave portions to editor Ben Bradlee. That day, Assistant U.S. Attorney General William Rehnquist asked the Post to cease publication. After the paper refused, Rehnquist sought an injunction in U.S. district court. Judge Murray Gurfein declined to issue such an injunction, writing that “[t]he security of the Nation is not at the ramparts alone. Security also lies in the value of our free institutions. A cantankerous press, an obstinate press, a ubiquitous press must be suffered by those in authority in order to preserve the even greater values of freedom of expression and the right of the people to know.” The government appealed that decision, and on June 26 the Supreme Court agreed to hear it jointly with the New York Times case.Fifteen other newspapers received copies of the study and began publishing it.
On June 30, 1971, the Supreme Court decided, 6–3, that the government failed to meet the heavy burden of proof required for prior restraint injunction. The nine justices wrote nine opinions disagreeing on significant, substantive matters.
Only a free and unrestrained press can effectively expose deception in government. And paramount among the responsibilities of a free press is the duty to prevent any part of the government from deceiving the people and sending them off to distant lands to die of foreign fevers and foreign shot and shell.
—Justice Black
Five men were arrested for burglary of the Democratic National Committee offices at the Watergate office and apartment complex in Washington, DC on June 17, 1972.
The affair began with the arrest of five men for breaking and entering into the Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters at the Watergate complex on June 17, 1972. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) connected cash found on the burglars to a slush fund used by the Committee for the Re-Election of the President, the official organization of Nixon’s campaign.
In July 1973, as evidence mounted against the president’s staff, including testimony provided by former staff members in an investigation conducted by the Senate Watergate Committee, it was revealed that President Nixon had a tape-recording system in his offices and he had recorded many conversations.
After a protracted series of bitter court battles, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the president had to hand over the tapes to government investigators; he ultimately complied.
Recordings from these tapes implicated the president, revealing he had attempted to cover up the questionable goings-on that had taken place after the break-in.
Facing near-certain impeachment in the House of Representatives and equally certain conviction by the Senate, Nixon resigned the presidency on August 9, 1974. His successor, Gerald Ford, then issued a pardon to him on September 8, 1974.
On June 11, 1986, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off was released.
[T]he most memorable performer may have been an automobile: the 1961 Ferrari 250 GT California, a custom-built car revered by auto collectors.
According to Motor Trend, the first Ferrari 250 GT Spyder California—colloquially known as the “Cal Spyder”—was produced in 1957 and the last was built in early 1963. In addition to the long-wheelbase (LWB) Spyder, Ferrari also produced a sportier, short-wheelbase (SWB) model. Though estimates vary as to exactly how many were made—Cameron says “less than a hundred” in the film—approximately 46 LWB and between 50 and 57 SWB Spyders were produced in all. For “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” the filmmakers used a modified MGB roadster with a fiberglass body as a stand-in for the Ferrari. The filmmakers reportedly received angry letters from car enthusiasts who believed that a real Ferrari had been damaged.
One 1961 250 GT SWB Spyder California, with chassis number GT 2377GT, belonged to the actor James Coburn (“The Magnificent Seven”), who died in 2002. On May 18, 2008, at the second annual Ferrari Leggenda e Passione event at Maranello, Italy, the British deejay Chris Evans bought that car at auction for 6.4 million Euros, or $10,894,400 (including fees), the highest price ever paid for an automobile at auction.
On June 12, 1987, President Ronald Reagan spoke in then-divided Berlin and challenged Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to “tear down this wall.”
Atlanta Braves player Otis Nixon tied the modern record for steals in one game with six stolen bases agains the Montreal Expos on June 16, 1991.
Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections
Early voting in the Statewide Special Primary Elections for Public Service Commission:
Republican – 23,309 – 31.24%
Democrat – 51,022 – 68.38%
Non-partisan – 283 – 0.38%
TOTAL – 74,614
Today is Election Day in the 2025 Special Primary Elections for Public Service Commission. From 13WMAZ:
There are two statewide seats for Public Service Commission, in addition to three local races in Central Georgia.
Here is everything you need to know for Election Day.
Public Service Commission
There are two seats on Georgia’s Public Service Commission up for re-election. The commission negotiates with companies, like Georgia Power, on behalf of Georgians and directly influences what you pay. The commission has five Democrats and three Republicans running in the primary.
District 2 – Tim Echols (R) – Incumbent
District 2 – Lee Muns (R)District 2 – Alicia M. Johnson (D)
District 3 – Fitz Johnson (R) – Incumbent
District 3 – Daniel Blackman (D)
District 3 – Peter Hubbard (D)
District 3 – Robert Jones (D)
District 3 – Keisha Sean Waites (D)Centerville Mayor
Two men are vying for the opportunity to fill the rest of former Mayor John Harley’s term. They are J. Michael Evans and Justin Wright. In November, voters will elect a new mayor for a full four-year term.
Harley resigned on Dec. 31 after serving as mayor since 2009. Evans, the city’s mayor pro tempore and city council chairman, has served in the role since. Wright has also served in city leadership as a longtime city council member.
Washington County
Washington County voters will have the chance to choose a new council chairman after the resignation of Horace Daniel. Democrats Mel Daniel and Doug Watkins are both running to fill the role.
Horace Daniel is Mel Daniel’s father. Mel Daniel said he felt he had been training for the position his entire life. Meanwhile, Watkins brings seven years as District 1 commissioner to the table.
Wheeler County
Wheeler County voters will have four options to choose from for tax commissioner. Republicans Bradley Davis, Whitney Griffin, Curtis Hay, and Democrat Marvin Howard are the candidates running for the position.
Elections for the Public Service Commission have been canceled for the last two cycles because of a voting rights lawsuit challenging the way the elections are conducted, meaning three commissioners have continued to serve and vote on key issues without facing voters as originally scheduled. Two of those commissioners, Republicans Tim Echols and Fitz Johnson, are on the ballot this year.
Candidates for the commission have to live in designated districts; the districts in this election include one covering a swath of East Georgia including Augusta and Savannah and the other covering the three metro Atlanta counties of Clayton, DeKalb and Fulton. But all Georgia voters elect the commissioners, meaning any registered voter in Georgia can vote for both seats on the ballot, regardless of where they live.
While the incumbents running to keep their seats have touted their work on reliable energy, the new nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle and affordable power bills, their opponents have been sharply critical of repeated rate hikes and a commission they argue doesn’t listen to the concerns of Georgians.
Gwinnett County changed 13 polling locations in today’s election, according to WABE.
Gwinnett County announced several polling location changes for a statewide special primary election for the Georgia Public Service Commission.
County officials on Monday released a list of 13 updated polling locations for Election Day on Tuesday. Residents were also encouraged to visit the Georgia Secretary of State’s My Voter Page to verify their correct location.
The county has not responded to WABE’s questions about the reason for the changes.
DeKalb County changes two polling locations
Gwinnett is not the only metro Atlanta county to make last-minute polling changes ahead of Election Day.The DeKalb Board of Registration and Elections announced on Friday that it had notified about 7,000 voters about two temporary polling location changes.
According to the county, the combined precincts of Henderson Mill and Midvale Road will relocate from Henderson Mill Elementary School to Warren Technical School at 3075 Alton Road in Atlanta.
Additionally, the Toney Elementary precinct will relocate from Toney Elementary School to Kelley Lake Elementary School at 2590 Kelly Lake Road in Decatur.
“Ongoing construction at previously designated Election Day polling locations requires DeKalb VRE to pivot to nearby locations to ensure a safe and convenient voting experience,” said DeKalb VRE executive director Keisha Smith in Friday’s press release. The official also noted that these changes were only in effect for the June 17 election and any subsequent July 15 runoff.
Clayton County announced three polling place location changes, according to the County government.
Tuesday voting will set November’s ballot for a special election for two seats on Georgia’s hugely influential Public Service Commission (PSC).
The PSC sets electric and gas rates and regulates the state’s utilities and infrastructure. The general election on Nov. 4, 2025.
From the Associated Press via the Winchester Star:
Voters head to the polls Tuesday to choose party nominees for two posts on the Georgia Public Service Commission, which oversees utilities including Georgia Power Co.
There are two separate primary elections taking place. A voter can choose either a Republican ballot or a Democratic ballot. In each race, candidates must live in a certain district, but run statewide.
In the District 2 Republican primary, Lee Muns of Harlem is challenging incumbent Commissioner Tim Echols, who lives in Hoschton. Echols has been on the Public Service Commission since 2011. The winner will face Democrat Alicia Johnson of Augusta in November.
In the District 3 Democratic primary, three people are vying to challenge Republican incumbent Fitz Johnson in November. They are Peter Hubbard and Keisha Waites of Atlanta and Robert Jones of Brookhaven. If no Democrat wins a majority on Tuesday, a runoff will be held on July 15.
Daniel Blackman of Atlanta will appear on ballots in the District 3 Democratic primary, but votes for him will not be counted after a judge ruled he hadn’t moved into the district in time to meet the November 2024 deadline
Debate in the primary has centered on bills charged by Georgia Power, a subsidiary of Atlanta-based Southern Co. Georgia Power customers have seen bills rise six times in recent years because of higher natural gas costs, construction projects including two new nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle near Augusta, and other factors. A typical Georgia Power residential customer now pays more than $175 a month, including taxes.
All the challengers are calling for change, while Republican incumbent Tim Echols defends his record.
The five-member commission, currently all Republicans, also oversees some natural gas rates for Atlanta Gas Light and Liberty Gas.
Georgia usually doesn’t have statewide elections in odd-numbered years, but these were pushed back after elections were delayed by a lawsuit that unsuccessfully challenged the statewide voting scheme as discriminatory to Black people. No Georgia Public Service Commission elections have been held since 2022 because of the lawsuit.
Johnson was appointed to the commission in 2021 by Gov. Brian Kemp and has never faced voters. He was supposed to run for the last two years of his predecessor’s term in 2022. Instead, the District 3 winner can run again next year for a six-year term, after lawmakers rewrote the terms.
Echols was supposed to run for a six-year term in 2022. Instead, the District 2 winner will serve for five years, with the next election in 2030.
Polls open Tuesday for primary elections to select candidates for Georgia’s powerful utility regulatory board, and if early voting is any guide, long lines shouldn’t be an issue.
It’s the first time Georgia’s approximately 8.4 million registered voters have had the opportunity to vote in a Public Service Commission primary election in three years. A series of court battles and new legislation have delayed PSC elections since 2022.
And after two-and-a-half weeks of early voting, about 1% of active voters turned out to cast their ballots.
The low-profile election could have major implications on how much Georgians pay for their utility bills. The PSC regulates the rates many utilities, such as Georgia Power and Atlanta Gas Light, can charge.
Since 2023, Georgia Power customers have experienced six PSC-approved rate hikes. The utility made a preliminary agreement with the five-person PSC in May to hold base rates steady for the next three years.
Three Democrats are on the ballot in the District 3 race, which represents Clayton, DeKalb and Fulton counties. The candidates are: Keisha Sean Waites, former state representative and former Atlanta City Council member; Peter Hubbard, chief executive of Georgia Center for Energy Solutions; and Robert Jones, who has worked in energy and tech for the government and private companies.
The winner of the primary will challenge incumbent Republican Commissioner Fitz Johnson in November. Gov. Brian Kemp appointed Johnson to the board in 2021, but he hasn’t been elected to office before.
Some votes cast during the early voting period for that race won’t count because District 3 candidate Daniel Blackman was disqualified after officials ruled that he had not lived in his district long enough. Signs informing voters of Blackman’s disqualification will be posted at polling locations on Tuesday.
Following the primary election, there could be a runoff if no candidate receives a majority of votes.
Even so, turnout has been ultra low in the primary election for a pair of commission races on the ballot this year. After three weeks of early voting, turnout sits at 1% – with about 75,000 voters casting a ballot so far. Tuesday is the last chance to vote in the primaries.
This year’s commission races represent the first time since 2020 that voters will have a chance to change the makeup of the panel. The elections were delayed for several years due to a lawsuit challenging the statewide method for the district-based seats, which plaintiffs argued dilutes the strength of Black voters.
The commissioners have faced criticism for allowing Georgia Power to raise rates by an average of $43 per month since 2023.
Georgia’s polls will be open Tuesday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. for the Republican and Democratic primaries that will decide who will appear on the Nov. 4 ballot.
A runoff will be held July 15 between the top two vote-getters in the Democratic District 3 race if nobody receives more than 50% of votes Tuesday.
The winners of November’s election will begin their term in a year when commissioners are expected to consider requests from Georgia Power to recoup costs from storm damage and overrun fuel costs. These expenses fall outside of the proposed rate freeze announced last month.
Commissioners are normally elected to six-year terms, but the winners in this year’s elections will serve shorter terms to get things back on schedule after the delay. The District 3 winner will be up for election again next year, while the District 2 seat is set to go back up in 2030.
Candidates must live in a given district but are elected statewide, meaning Georgians across the state decide who represents a district on the commission.
The metro Atlanta Democratic primary was upended June 11 when likely frontrunner Daniel Blackman was disqualified for not meeting the commission’s residency requirement. Candidates must live within the boundaries of the district for 12 months to be eligible to run for office.
The ruling means that Blackman’s votes will not be counted, potentially resulting in thousands of ballots being discarded. Voters in Georgia will be notified of Blackman’s eligibility by signs posted in voting precincts Tuesday.
In 2020, Blackman came close to winning a seat on the commission, later going on to serve as the Environmental Protection Agency’s Southeast regional administrator under the Biden administration.
From the Associated Press on Democrat Daniel Blackman’s disqualification:
Votes won’t count for Democrat Daniel Blackman in the June 17 primary election for Georgia Public Service Commission after a judge ruled Tuesday that Blackman hadn’t proved that he had lived in Fulton County for the required year before the general election in November.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Ural Glanville issued an earlier temporary order that kept Blackman on the ballot after Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger had disqualified him. But after a hearing on Tuesday, Glanville ruled from the bench that Raffensperger’s ruling had been correct.
Blackman can appeal, but if he loses, any votes cast for him will not be counted in the District 3 Democratic primary for the utility regulator. Three other Democrats — Peter Hubbard, Robert Jones and Keisha Waites — are also seeking their party’s nomination to oppose Republican Fitz Johnson in November.
In Public Service Commission elections, voters statewide choose each of the five commissioners. But the commissioners themselves must live in particular districts. District 3 includes Fulton, DeKalb and Clayton counties.
Blackman says he moved from Forsyth County to a southwest Atlanta apartment in October 2024, while his wife and children remained in the northern Atlanta suburb. But Glanville, ruling from the bench, said Blackman didn’t do enough to prove he had truly moved, noting he didn’t transfer his voter registration to Fulton County until April.
“The court is of the opinion that the secretary’s decision did, in fact, properly apply Georgia law,” Glanville said during an online hearing. “The final decision properly considered the petitioners failure to update his voter registration until April of 2025.”
Glanville said he hoped to enter a written order as soon as Wednesday. Blackman could appeal after that. A lawyer for Blackman did not immediately respond to a request for a statement after the hearing.
Signs warning voters that Blackman has been disqualified will be posted in polling places as soon as Glanville makes a written order, said Robert Sinners, a spokesperson for Raffensperger.
Turnout in the election is likely to be very low, but thousands of votes for Blackman could still be discarded. Through Monday, more than 25,000 people had voted in the Democratic primary. Early voting ends Friday, with Election Day on June 17.
Blackman lost a 2020 race for the commission and was appointed by President Joe Biden as southern region administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency.
A Republican primary will also be decided June 17, with Lee Muns of Harlem challenging incumbent Commissioner Tim Echols of Hoschton. Echols has been on the Public Service Commission since 2011. The winner will face Democrat Alicia Johnson in November.
All five commissioners are currently Republicans.
Voters in the City of Palmetto will elect a City Council Member, according to the City.
Only voters who reside in the City of Palmetto – specifically those within Fulton County and a portion of Coweta County – are eligible to vote in the City of Palmetto Municipal Contest.
Coweta County – City of Palmetto Voters
Two separate Ballots for the Public Service Commission and City of Palmetto Municipal Special Election.
IF YOU CHOOSE TO VOTE DURING ADVANCE VOTING:
• Public Service Commissioner Election – Coweta County voters will report to a Coweta County Advance Voting location to cast their ballot. Please visit the Secretary of State GA My Voter Page at mvp.sos.ga.gov for early voting locations or Coweta County’s Elections Voter Registration page at bit.ly/CowetaElectionInfo
• City of Palmetto Municipal Special Election – Coweta County voters may report to any of the 18 Fulton County Early Voting locations. Please visit Fulton County Early Voting Locations page at www.fultoncountyga.gov/earlyvoting for early voting locations and hours.
IF YOU CHOOSE TO VOTE ON ELECTION DAY:
• Public Service Commissioner Election – Coweta County voters will report to their Coweta County assigned Election Day Location to cast their ballot.
• City of Palmetto Municipal Special Election – Coweta County voters will report to their assigned Municipal election polling location – Palmetto City Hall to cast their ballot.
• To confirm your election day polling location please visit the Secretary of State GA My Voter Page.
Fulton County Voters – City of Palmetto Voters
One Ballot – Public Service Commissioner Election and the Municipal Election are on the same ballot.
IF YOU CHOOSE TO VOTE DURING ADVANCE VOTING:
• Fulton County Voters may report to any of the 18 Fulton County Advance Voting locations to cast their ballot for both elections.
IF YOU CHOOSE TO VOTE ON ELECTION DAY:
• Fulton County voters (Precinct PA01) will report to Palmetto City Hall to cast their ballot for both elections.
• To confirm advance voting locations and your election day polling location please visit the Secretary of State GA My Voter Page at mvp.sos.ga.gov.
Voters in the City of Shiloh will elect a City Council Member from the following:
Ric Buran
Austin Eastman
Clayton County voters will decide whether to pass a Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax, according to the county government.
Comments ( 0 )