Georgia is holding a statewide election for two seats on the Public Service Commission this year, and Macon residents will vote on the Bibb County School District’s Education Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax, or ESPLOST.
Bibb County Supervisor of Elections Tom Gillon said that while the Public Service Commission districts up for election this year do not serve Macon-Bibb directly, the five commissioners oversee the entire state’s infrastructure and prices for natural gas, telecommunications and electricity.
“This is looking at people’s monthly power bills. That’s a big deal for a lot of Georgians. There has been some heightened awareness of this election. People are paying attention to it more because they are seeing the news stories about data centers,” Harris Wallace ‘27, a national programming intern with Campus Vote Project, said.
The Public Service Election election arrives at a pivotal time for Middle Georgia as companies are purchasing land across the region to build the data centers that Wallace mentioned. Among these corporations are Google and Amazon, who bought land this year in Monroe County and Lamar County respectively. While there has been intense pushback against these centers, many of the projects have received the green light from counties that are hoping to cash in on the promised jobs and tax revenue that come with the centers.
District 2’s candidates are incumbent Republican Fitz Johnson and Democrat Peter Hubbard while in District 3, the incumbent, Republican Tim Echols, is running against Democrat Alicia Johnson. District 3 serves Fulton, Clayton and DeKalb Counties while District 2 encompasses 39 counties east of Atlanta. All five sitting commissioners are Republican.
Macon's ESPLOST expires this year, meaning residents will vote either to keep or remove the sales tax, which the school district uses to fund various improvements to public schools. The tax expires every five years, or when the district reaches its set goal, which is currently $250 million.
Gillon said residents can vote in three ways. The deadline to submit an absentee ballot is 5:30 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 24. Early voters must submit their ballots by Oct. 31, and if that deadline is missed, they may head to their designated polling station on Nov. 4.
Wallace said Mercer students can either register to vote with their school address or home address. If a student uses their home address, they would either need to vote via an absentee ballot or travel to the assigned polling station for that residence. For those who registered with a Mercer or Macon address, they can vote as Bibb County residents.
“Every elected official eventually answers to the voting public, and the elections are how you get to have your say in how the county, state and nation are run,” Gillon said.
Gillon added Georgia residents can check if they are registered to vote on the state’s My Voter Page that Macon citizens can call the Board of Elections at (478) 621- 6622. Wallace provided the email vote@mercer.edu to contact Mercer Votes, a student organization focused on boosting civic engagement across campus.
“Voting is a habit. It’s quicker than you think it is, easier than you think it is and you will be glad, when it’s over, that you did vote,” Wallace said.
Nathaniel Jordan '29 intends to major in Journalism at Mercer and hopes to work as an investigative journalist. His hobbies include poetry, photography and home cooking, and you can probably find him around Macon shopping or walking through local parks with his wife and son.
