Secretary Raffensperger calls on the General Assembly to end general election runoffs

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger is calling on the Georgia General Assembly to eliminate general election runoffs in the state.

“Georgia is one of the only states in the country with a General Election Runoff,” Raffensperger said in a news release. “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.”

Under current Georgia law, a candidate must receive more than 50% + 1 vote in the general election to avoid a runoff. If no candidate meets that criteria, the race goes to a runoff between the top two vote-getters.

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Georgia lawmakers reduced the time between the general election and runoff from nine weeks to four during the last legislative session. Several county elections offices expressed concerns over the shortened time frame, saying it made it more difficult for them to do their jobs.

It is something that Raffensperger acknowledged in his statement.

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“No one wants to be dealing with politics in the middle of their family holiday,” he said. “It’s even tougher on the counties who had a difficult time completing all of their deadlines, an election audit and executing a runoff in a four-week time period.”

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