Eli
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Eli
@elium2.com
1.1K followers 490 following 1.9K posts
Leftist political analyst focusing on Georgia & RI. Sometimes I talk about justice. | cishet, autistic, 27

📍Sandy Springs, GA

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1a. The majority dispenses with mootness and reaches the issue of whether the injunction was properly granted. They distinguish the city’s contracts claim, which is about how the court should rule, from the question of mootness, which asks whether a court ruling could have any effect. All correct.
The City argues that the case is moot because repeal of the leasing ordinance would not change the status quo and could not invalidate the actual lease agreement because of Georgia's constitutional prohibition against the impairment of contracts, but this argument confuses the mootness inquiry with the merits. The plaintiffs' ultimate prospects of success and the legal availability of certain types of relief are not pertinent to the mootness inquiry.
January 11, 2026 at 5:28 PM
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I would not believe this was a real election if I hadn't voted in it.

Here are the 2025 Georgia PSC D3 results by congressional, State Senate, and State House district. Peter Hubbard carried 8/14 CDs (57.1%), 37/56 SDs (66.1%), and 116/180 HDs (64.4%) while receiving 62.9% of the vote.
Statewide map of Georgia showing the results of the 2025 Public Service Commission (PSC) “District 3” special election by congressional district. The PSC is elected statewide, but each seat has a defined region and candidates for that seat must live in the region. I, Eli, hold any applicable copyright on this map and performed all calculations and tabulations for it. The map shows that Peter Hubbard, the Democrat, carried 8 of 14 congressional districts, while Fitz Johnson, the Republican, carried 6. Statewide, Hubbard received 62.9% of the vote; the race had only two candidates. Hubbard carried the Democratic-held seats in metro Atlanta by large margins, winning GA-05 with 93.5%, GA-04 with 86.9%, and both GA-06 and GA-13 with 80-85%. He carried GA-02 in southwest Georgia with 67%; this is also a Dem-held seat. He additionally carried three Republican-held seats – the first, tenth, and twelfth districts. Although the map does not differentiate between a victory at 50.1% and at 54.9%, he carried those three seats with over 53% of the vote, and nearly hit 55% in the twelfth district. Johnson carried the third, seventh, eighth, and eleventh districts with less than 55% of the vote. In the seventh and eleventh districts, which include parts of the Atlanta metro, he won with less than 51% of the vote. Johnson carried the ninth and fourteenth districts in north Georgia with 56-57% of the vote in each. All percentage ranges are inclusive for the lower number but not the higher number, but no rounding was performed on the raw data, so this should not be relevant. Map of the PSC D3 race by State Senate district. Copyright by me. Hubbard carried 37 of 56 districts, or 66%, which is notably larger than his statewide vote share (he received 62.9% of the vote). The median district was Hubbard +12%; this is a composite of SD 32 (Hubbard +12.8%) and SD 48 (Hubbard +11.4%). He carried all 23 districts currently held by Democrats, receiving >95% in SD 44; 90-95% in SDs 36, 10, 41, and 39 (in order of descending vote share); 85-90% in SDs 35, 34, 43, 17, 28, and 55; 80-85% in SDs 5, 38, 22, and 2; 75-80% in SDs 40 and 15; 70-75% in SDs 33, 26, 9, and 7; 68.6% in SD 12; and 64.6% in SD 14. He also carried 14 Republican-held districts, receiving 60.1% in SD 37; 55-60% in SDs 42, 45, 47, 32, and 48; and 50-55% in SDs 56, 46, 23, 29, 25, 18, 30, and 1. I note that although all Democratic-held seats were bluer than all Republican-held seats, some of the competitive Republican-held seats voted to the right of seats that would not be competitive in a general election; for example, SD 48 (2024 Trump +4.8%) voted to the right of SD 47 (2024 Trump +21.5%). Johnson carried 19 SDs, all held by Republicans. He received 54-55% in SDs 20 and 31 (in order of *ascending* vote share); 55-60% in SDs 8, 16, 11, 3, 4, 24, 13, 21, and 27; 60-65% in SDs 6 and 49; 65-67% in SDs 19 and 52; 70-75% in SDs 53, 54, and 50; and 75.5% in SD 51, in central North Georgia. I note that SD 19 was by far the reddest district in South Georgia (SD 13 was a distant second), with all districts redder than SD 19 being in North Georgia. Notably, almost all districts that were within 10% went for Hubbard. All percentage ranges are inclusive for the lower number but not the higher number, but no rounding was performed on the raw data, so this should not be relevant. Map of the PSC D3 race by State House district. Copyright by me. I will not list all 180 State House districts here. Hubbard carried 116 of 180 districts, or 64.4%, again more than his statewide share of the vote (62.9%). The median district was Hubbard +18%; this is a composite of HD 147 (Hubbard +18.3%) and HD 37 (Hubbard +18.0%). I note HD 121 had a nearly identical margin to HD 37. Hubbard carried 5 districts with >95%; 13 with 90-95%; 19 with 85-90%; 12 with 80-85%; 10 with 75-80%; 12 with 70-75%; 7 with 65-70%; 9 with 60-65%; 14 with 55-60%; and 15 with 50-55%. The bluest district was HD 90, at 96.4% Hubbard; the others in the >95% range were, in descending order, HDs 89, 59, 84, and 56. Hubbard carried all districts that elected Democrats in the 2024 general election, receiving over 60% in all but two such districts; he won HDs 50 and 37 with 59-60%. He also carried HD 121 with 59%; HD 121 elected a Republican in 2024 but elected a Democrat in a December 2025 special election. Looking at Republican-held districts, in order of descending Democratic vote share, he carried HDs 105, 99, and 154 with 65-70% of the vote; 139, 120, 81, 151, 44, and 46 with 60-65%; 45, 147, 22, 19, 34, 40, 103, 48, 53, 36, and 164 with 55-60%; 161, 100, 104, 111, 146, 125, 49, 47, 131, 25, 71, 17, 29, 124, and 179 with 50-55% of the vote. Johnson carried 13 districts with 50-55%; 14 with 55-60%; 12 with 60-65%; 8 with 67-70%; 11 with 70-75%; and 6 with 75-80%, for a total of 64 Johnson districts. The reddest was HD 6, at 78.8% Johnson. The other districts in the 75-80% range were, in order of *ascending* Republican vote share, HDs 18, 8, 32, 2, and 178; HD 178 is the only one of these outside North Georgia. In ascending order, the districts in the 50-55% range were 173, 24, 127, 171, 175, 152, 70, 180, 169, 20, 133, 114, and 82.
January 6, 2026 at 9:12 PM
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Most notably I did this a couple times before realizing there might be an easier approach.
January 1, 2026 at 4:30 PM
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Zohran Mamdani standing in front of a photo of Franklin D. Roosevelt.
December 31, 2025 at 4:12 PM
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so close…

[this is very late-game Celeste gameplay]
December 31, 2025 at 1:49 AM
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I have uploaded a more professional profile picture.
I am wearing a suit and tie. My face bears a wild expression as I attempt to eat a piece of legislation. This photo was taken in the Georgia Capitol.
December 30, 2025 at 4:32 PM
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Last week, Mary Robichaux ousted Kurt Wilson as mayor of Roswell, Georgia. Robichaux is a Democrat who served in the State House, while Wilson is a Republican, and it shows in the map. In his single term, Wilson has been criticized by both liberals and conservatives over transparency.
A map of the December 2, 2025 general election runoff for mayor of Roswell, Georgia. The map is copyrighted by me, Eli H. Spencer Heyman; I grant a Creative Commons 4.0 BY-NC-ND license for its reproduction. The runoff featured Mary Robichaux, listed first on the ballot, and Kurt Wilson, the incumbent, listed second. The race was officially nonpartisan, but Robichaux was effectively the Democratic candidate, and Wilson likewise was effectively the Republican candidate. Robichaux won the election with 9,759 votes, or 53.2%, to Wilson's 8,593 votes, or 46.8%. 4 voters cast blank ballots, for a total turnout of 18,356, which was 28.9% of registered voters. The map shows that Wilson received his strongest support in the city's northwest, receiving 62-64% in two precincts there. He won one precinct with 55-60% of the vote and five with 50-55% of the vote. All but one of Wilson's precincts were northwest of Georgia 120 (Alpharetta Hwy, North Atlanta St, and Marietta Hwy), with the other lying in the area just north of where Holcomb Bridge Rd crosses the Chattahoochee. Robichaux's support was strongest in the area north of Holcomb Bridge Rd, west of Georgia 400, and east of Alpharetta Highway, bounded on the north by the city limits. She received 75-80% of the vote in three precincts there and 68% in the fourth, although all had very low turnout. She received 70-75% in the two precincts bordering Georgia 400 south of Holcomb Bridge Rd, and won other areas more modestly, including four precincts northwest of Georgia 120 and eight other precincts. The map also contains sourcing notes, a legend, a sample ballot image, a key showing Roswell's location in Georgia (it is in North Fulton County, some 20 miles north of Atlanta) and depictions of major roads and the Chattahoochee River. The depicted roads are all state routes in Roswell, along with Canton St/Crabapple Rd; Roswell's historic downtown is centered around Canton St.
December 10, 2025 at 6:19 PM
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Another Republican in a Peter Hubbard district resigned today: John F. Kennedy. That's right, SD 18 voted for Peter Hubbard.
My calculations for SD 18 in the PSC District 3 election. I have Hubbard winning the district by a little over 1%, or about 340 votes. These numbers are near-exact for Bibb County and exact for Crawford, Monroe, Peach, and Upson counties, but I used a racial regression estimate for Houston County. The estimate is still of very high quality.
December 10, 2025 at 3:01 AM
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2024 result tabulation (exact) versus current results
Clarke County: 31.3% Trump, 67.7% Harris with 11,011 ballots cast. Oconee County: 67.9% Trump, 31.3% Harris with 22,050 ballots cast. Overall 55.7% Trump, 43.4% Harris with 33,061 ballots cast. Exact totals were 18,165 Trump, 14,163 Harris, 183 Oliver (Libertarian), 116 Stein (Green). State House District 121 results Eric Gisler (Democrat) with 5,873 votes (50.85%) Mack “Dutch” Guest IV (Republican) with 5,676 votes (49.15%) Clarke County: Gisler 3,115 (82.3%), Guest 669 (17.7%) Oconee County: Gisler 2,758 (35.5%), Guest 5,007 (64.5%) All precincts reporting
December 10, 2025 at 2:21 AM
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This one certainly SHOULD have been adjudicated…
Absentee ballot portion for Public Service Commission, District 2. The voter bubbled in Alicia M. Johnson (Democrat) and the write-in slot fully. There is no writing in the blank for the write-in slot. Next to the write-in bubble, the voter wrote an X. Tabulation record, recording an overvote not counted as the voter selected both Alicia M. Johnson and Write-in.
December 8, 2025 at 2:03 AM
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Updated PSC D3 by city map. I'm also including PSC D2 here as there are a couple of cases where the winner of a jurisdiction actually differs.
My map continues to progress. North Georgia is even more filled in than before, as is metro Atlanta. I have also made noticeable progress in South Georgia. Incomplete map of PSC D2 race by municipality.
December 6, 2025 at 2:54 AM
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You have got to be kidding me
Absentee ballot from Marshallville, Georgia, in Macon County. In all races, the voter filled in a candidate bubble, and then also bubbled in the write-in bubble and wrote in the write-in space the name of the candidate already selected. This is one of the most common voter errors and the intent is clearly to select the candidates on the ballot. The candidates selected are: Public Service Commission, District 2: Alicia M. Johnson Public Service Commission, District 3: Peter Hubbard Marshallville Mayor: Al S. Lane (incumbent) Marshallville City Council (vote for two): Carl B. Rucker, George D. Rumph Adjudication record for the ballot (tabulator 90, batch 3, record 8). All races were initially considered overvoted. The ballot is recorded as “adjudicated at 8:55 PM on 11/4/2025 by emsadmin”. All four races were adjudicated as being a vote for a write-in, rather than for a qualified candidate.
December 5, 2025 at 11:54 PM
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I doubt either of these leads get erased.
December 3, 2025 at 12:49 AM
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This does not feel like a great sign for Dontaye. I voted over a week ago.
Text Wednesday 11:30 AM from me: “I voted for Dontaye on Sunday!” Reply received within one hour: “Thank you!” Text received from same number at 11:06 AM today: “Election Day is today! If you've already voted for Dontaye Carter, thank you. Polls are open until 7 PM, and we can win this with your help!”
December 2, 2025 at 4:09 PM
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Sometimes I wonder why they bother adjudicating
A ballot from City Council District 2 in Washington city, Georgia, in Wilkes County. The voter has lightly and sloppily placed check marks for both Republicans for Public Service Commission. Lighter still, but more clearly not stray marks in my opinion, the voter has selected Susan C. Branan for Council and Yes on FLOST, also by check mark. The instructions clearly indicate that this is not the correct way to mark a ballot. Record of how the ballot was tabulated. Ballot scanned on Tabulator 90, Batch 1, Ballot 2, at 18:14:34 on 11/04. Original tabulation: PSC District 2 vote for Tim Echols (R) PSC District 3 vote for Fitz Johnson (R) City Council blank contest FLOST blank contest Adjudicated at 7:32 p.m. on 11/04 by “emsadmin”. Adjudication results: PSC District 2: Tim Echols (Rep) (40% confidence) PSC District 3: Fitz Johnson (Rep) (29% confidence) City Council blank contest FLOST blank contest There is no confidence level given for the blank contest determinations.
November 28, 2025 at 4:29 AM
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I saw this headline and thought I must be hallucinating
“Labubu and KPop Demon Hunters Join Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade” Headline from The New York Times
November 27, 2025 at 3:50 PM
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Since posting this, after attempting to load the webpage of Wilkinson County (not exactly a high-tech webpage, but it seems to be down currently) via the Internet Archive, which sent me to a redirect loop, suddenly Safari was using 67 GB and getting worse and I had to force quit it.
System message from my Mac: Force Quit Applications “Your system has run out of application memory. To avoid problems with your computer, quit any applications you are not using.” Visible in the screenshot are Acrobat, using 0.90 GB; Activity Monitor, 80 MB; AdBlock, 32 MB; Contacts, 46 MB; Excel, 1.15 GB, Preview, 39 MB; R, 6.85 GB; Reminders, 68 MB; and Safari, somehow using 66.78 GB. Safari is the only application marked as “not responding”.
November 27, 2025 at 2:09 AM
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Updated PSC D3 by city map!
The map features many more municipalities and counties now, primarily in North and West Georgia. Little progress has been made in South Georgia.
November 25, 2025 at 11:05 PM
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I have begun work on my PSC by city map. (This is the D3 race.)
A map of Georgia. This is a work in progress of the Public Service Commission District 3 race by municipality (unincorporated areas are aggregated by county). I have completed the following counties: Baldwin, Berrien, Bibb, Candler, Chattahoochee, Chattooga, Cherokee, Cobb, Cook, Echols, Evans, Fulton, Jeff Davis, Lanier, Muscogee, Quitman, Richmond, Stephens, and Webster. I also have the municipalities of Alto, Demorest, Mount Airy, Temple, Pearson, Port Wentworth, and Vidalia as well as three very small jurisdictions. Let me know in the replies if you want the topline results for any of them. My Bluesky handle, @elium2.com, is also in the image.
November 20, 2025 at 3:35 AM
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Incredible things happened in the Georgia PSC election. Josh McKoon's old district, now held by Randy Robertson, voted for Peter Hubbard.
SD 29 results for Public Service Commission District 3. The district voted for Peter Hubbard, the Democrat, by 4.5%. Fitz Johnson, the Republican, won Harris County by 6% (4,537 ballots cast); Meriwether County by 1.7% (3,153 ballots cast); and Troup County by 10% (9,103 ballots cast). Hubbard won the part of Muscogee County that is in the district by 32% (7,220 ballots cast). This part of Muscogee County is typically red.
November 19, 2025 at 2:56 AM
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Encountered this in the voter file I purchased from the state. (This is Stephens County.) This is definitely wrong. Combo 3 is Toccoa, and combo 1 is unincorporated.
Tabulation of Stephens County registered voters by municipality, district combo, and city council district. There are 153 voters in Avalon at-large, 243 in Martin at-large, 13,799 in Toccoa at-large, and 6,646 in Toccoa, but not assigned to Toccoa at-large. (I contend that there should be 6,646 in Toccoa at-large and 13,799 not in Toccoa at all.)
November 19, 2025 at 2:23 AM
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In Georgia, like most places, a recall requires gathering signatures from registered voters. But we also require specific grounds for the recall. It's a high standard. Recalls here are rare – and as far as I know, all recalls in the last 7 years that passed legal review were successful.
O.C.G.A. § 21-4-3, in relevant part, reads as follows. (7) “Grounds for recall” means: (A) That the official has, while holding public office, conducted himself or herself in a manner which relates to and adversely affects the administration of his or her office and adversely affects the rights and interests of the public; and (B) That the official: (i) Has committed an act or acts of malfeasance while in office; (ii) Has violated his or her oath of office; (iii) Has committed an act of misconduct in office; (iv) Is guilty of a failure to perform duties prescribed by law; or (v) Has willfully misused, converted, or misappropriated, without authority, public property or public funds entrusted to or associated with the elective office to which the official has been elected or appointed. [new paragraph] Discretionary performance of a lawful act or a prescribed duty shall not constitute a ground for recall of an elected public official; provided, however, that a judicial circuit district attorney’s failure to perform the duties provided for in Code Section 15-18-6 or a state court solicitor-general’s failure to perform the duties provided for in Code Section 15-18-66 shall constitute grounds for a recall of such elected official.
November 14, 2025 at 1:28 AM
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Cross-tabulation of the Woodstock mayoral race and the PSC D3 race. Incumbent mayor Michael Caldwell, a former Republican state representative, easily defeated former Indivisible chapter leader Martha Jean Schindler.
95% of Fitz Johnson voters selected incumbent mayor Michael Caldwell. Of Peter Hubbard voters, 59% selected challenger Martha Jean Schindler, 36% selected Caldwell, and 4% skipped the mayoral race entirely.
November 13, 2025 at 8:49 PM
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I was already inclined to go with the SoS's spelling of Vicky's last name, “Boyette”, rather than the spelling here, “Boyett”. And then I read the next line
Candidate list for the City of Screven submitted to the Georgia State Ethics Commission. The candidates are Jason Weaver for Mayor, Lee Stevenson for Council Seat 2, Vicky Boyett [sic] for Council Seat 2, and Booby Gray [sic] for Council Seat 4. This form spells Vicky's last name BOYETT, but the SoS records spell it BOYETTE. The Seat 4 candidate should be Bobby Gray.
November 13, 2025 at 5:34 PM
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owned
Section header: Sectarian violence and minorities in Syria The Washington Post: “One of the concerns raised by people who don’t want to lift the sanctions is the violence still happening in your country. Under the regime [of former president Bashar al-Assad], there was an effort to pit various groups against each other, but some of those groups are still fighting. How would you respond to critics who say you haven’t done enough to lower that type of violence, and what is your plan to make sure attacks on minorities do not continue?” Ahmed al-Sharaa: “Syria just got out of a fierce war, and it was living under dictatorship and the harsh regime that controlled the country for 60 years. We are going through a transitional period right now, and in transition, there are situations, conditions and laws that are different from stable countries. For example, the Civil War in the United States — after it finished, were things stable after one year? Or did it take so long, so many years after the war? We are in the stage of rebuilding the state, and restoring and rebuilding the law. But I’m not saying that there are no problems in Syria. It’s not the end of the story.”
November 12, 2025 at 4:13 PM