Despite all of the buildup, Tuesday’s party primaries were just the opening act. Instead, the outcomes of several high-profile races won’t be decided for another four weeks when the top finishers in several races meet again in a runoff election.
Here’s what you need to know about runoffs in Georgia.
What triggers a runoff?
State law requires a runoff for any election in which no candidate receives a majority of votes. That’s at least 50% plus one.
This can only happen when you have three or more candidates in a contest and no candidate is a runaway favorite. That’s been a common theme this year, with an open race for governor drawing a crowd in both party primaries and a multicandidate slugfest among Republicans running for U.S. Senate.
Who gets to vote in the runoff election?
If you are a registered voter, you can participate in the runoff election, even if you didn’t vote in the primary. Georgia is an open primary state, so you can vote in either the Democratic or Republican runoff.
If you aren’t registered and you want to vote, you’d better hurry. According to the secretary of state’s website, the registration deadline for the runoff is Wednesday.
Early voting for the runoff begins June 8.
You can check your registration status with the Georgia secretary of state here. You can view a sample ballot there once Tuesday’s races are finalized. The good news is that it should be much shorter than the lengthy primary ballot you may have encountered Tuesday.
Going to the polls
You can locate your assigned precinct on the secretary of state’s My Voter Page.
Just like for the primary vote, voters should bring a state-issued photo ID. That can be a Georgia driver’s license or passport or Georgia voter ID card, but a full list of acceptable IDs is here.
You can bring water and a snack for yourself. You can also bring your children. But don’t expect long lines. Voter turnout for runoff elections typically pretty low.
In 2022, just shy of 2 million voters cast a ballot in the primary — a turnout rate of 26% out of the state’s 7.7 million registered voters.
In the runoff just a few weeks later, only a fraction of voters returned. Around 281,000 cast a ballot in the runoff, resulting in a turnout of 4% of registered voters.
With runoffs this year in top races, turnout numbers likely will improve.
Why do we have runoffs?
Georgia is one of seven states that has runoffs, almost all of them in the South. In most states, the candidate with the most votes wins, even if that candidate didn’t get a majority.
Georgia’s history with runoffs is tied to its segregationist past. Runoffs were added to state law in 1964 just ahead of the passage of the Voting Rights Act to dilute the impact of Black voters.
The racist roots of the runoff system came under renewed scrutiny in 2022 when two Black candidates, U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock and football legend Herschel Walker, were forced into a runoff, which Warnock won to retain his seat.
Senior Data Editor Charles Minshew contributed to this report.
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