Republicans in Georgia are concerned about losing a rare off-year election in November because rural voters may not show up to the polls.
ADRIAN FLORIDO, HOST:
Rare off-year elections for two seats on Georgia's little-known public utilities board have Republicans nervous. That's because Democrats have more reasons to get out and vote. WABE radio's Emily Jones reports.
EMILY JONES, BYLINE: Some of Georgia's top Republicans recently gathered at a barn-style wedding hall in Forsyth County, north of Atlanta, to demonstrate party unity and patriotism.
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BUBBA MCDONALD: (Singing) And I'm proud to be an American, and at least I know that I'm free.
JONES: Bubba McDonald directed their song. He is a longtime member of the Public Utility Commission, which regulates the state's largest electric utility, Georgia Power. Now all the commissioners are Republicans, and state party chairman Josh McKoon advised those gathered to keep it that way.
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JOSHUA McCUNE: We are all united in one goal – to make it clear that Georgia is closed to the Democratic Party.
JONES: Georgia hasn't voted on this commission in five years because the lawsuit disrupted the election schedule. Then, in June, only 2% of Georgia voters turned out for the party primaries. About twice as many Democrats showed up as Republicans. So now Republicans, from the governor on down, are spending time and money to get their voters to the polls. Republican state Rep. Todd Jones says that's important because many counties, like Forsyth, which he represents, are not holding local elections this year, unlike some Democratic strongholds in the state.
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TODD ​​JONES: The fact is that we have over 100,000 voters who are not tied to the city, which means they don't have a mayoral race, a city council race – you name it – to drive them out. Our task is to get them out.
JONES: Ron Ray got the message. This commission is important. Authorities have the final say on electricity bills, which they raised six times in the last three years but froze this year. Democrats want more solar power and batteries, saying they are cheaper. Republicans say coal and gas are more reliable.
RON RAY: Honestly, I didn't realize how important this was until tonight.
JONES: He heard about the rally from a Republican email list. He says PSC was not on his radar before, but now he will go vote.
For their part, Georgia Democrats see a chance for a rare statewide victory that could bode well for next year as they try to defend a U.S. Senate seat. So state chairman Charlie Bailey says they're investing in this race like never before.
CHARLIE BAILEY: The state party has never spent any money on the PSC race, period.
JONES: He says they run phone banks, send out thousands of pieces of mail and knock on doors. The voter turnout battle tests the strength of the Republican Party that has governed Georgia for the past several decades and gives Democrats a rare chance at a statewide victory. But even if Democrats win, Georgia State University political scientist Tammy Greer says it could be just a miss.
TAMMY GREER: We'll get to the end and then somebody will do a really quick analysis and say it happened because of the Democratic wave or whatever it sounds like rather than, you know, it just happened because of the way the calendar fell.
JONES: For Democratic Party Chairman Bailey, the fight for these little-known seats is a sign that Georgia is still in the battleground. The state voted for Biden in 2020 and for President Trump last year by a narrow margin of 50.7%.
BAILEY: The close of the election is further evidence that this is a battleground. The battlefield, by its very definition, can be won and lost.
JONES: And both sides decided that they were going to win, this year and next. For NPR News, I'm Emily Jones in Forsyth County, Georgia.
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