Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) is calling on state lawmakers to abolish runoff elections, saying they’re too much of a burden on election officials and voters.
Per The Hill:
“Georgia is one of the only states in [the] country with a General Election Runoff,” Raffensperger, a Republican, said in a statement Wednesday. “We’re also one of the only states that always seems to have a runoff. I’m calling on the General Assembly to visit the topic of the General Election Runoff and consider reforms.”
His comments came just over a week after Georgia held its second Senate runoff election in less than two years. That race saw Sen. Raphael Warnock (D) defeat Republican Herschel Walker, adding one more seat to Democrats’ Senate majority.
State law currently requires a candidate to receive more than 50 percent of the vote in a general election to win outright. If no candidate hits that threshold, the race heads to a runoff between the top two vote-getters.
It’s a relatively unusual system. Only one other state, Louisiana, requires runoffs when no candidate receives a majority of the vote. In most other states, candidates only needs to win a plurality of the vote to clinch victory, while Maine and Alaska rely on ranked-choice voting to decide elections.
This year’s Georgia Senate runoff was considered even more demanding because of a new law that slashed the run-up to the runoff election from nine weeks to four.
This is a breaking news story. Check back with American Liberty News for the latest updates.
READ NEXT: California Governor Says State Will ‘Break’ Without Trump Border Policy >>
get it right the first time. This common sense. I hope it passes.
I agree with this gentleman’s position.
Adapt it to state needs & model from other states IE FL