Cox v. Barber

In this election contest, the trial court ordered Secretary of State Cathy Cox to place candidate J. Mac Barber’s name on the primary ballot for the district four seat on the Georgia Public Service Commission. We granted the Secretary of State’s application for discretionary appeal to consider whether the trial court correctly held that the one-year residency requirement in OCGA § 46-2-1 b is unconstitutional as applied to Barber. Because the statutory requirement is constitutional and Barber has not resided in district four for twelve months prior to the election, we hold that the Secretary of State properly concluded that he was disqualified from being a candidate for that PSC seat. Therefore, we reverse the trial court.

The Georgia Public Service Commission is a five-member body created under the Constitution of the State of Georgia.1 OCGA § 46-2-1 a provides that commissioners are elected statewide for six-year terms. In 1998, the Georgia General Assembly amended OCGA § 46-2-1 to establish that new members elected to the commission must reside within specific districts. Subsection b now provides: “In order to be elected as a member of the commission from a Public Service Commission District, a person must have resided in that district for at least 12 months prior to election thereto.”2