State law and holidays prevent a Saturday date for early voting in Georgia's Senate race

Georgia's Secretary of State's office recently notified county-level officials that early voting in the U.S. Senate runoff will not include Saturday voting.

The notice, addressed to county election officials from Elections Division Director Blake Evans on Saturday, says that a state law prevents voting on the second Saturday before an election if there is a holiday on a Thursday or Friday. Thursday is Thanksgiving and Friday is a generically named State Holiday.

The State Holiday in November replaced a previous holiday honoring Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's birthday even though Lee was born in January.

It's not over: U.S. Senate race between Raphael Warnock, Herschel Walker headed to runoff

Future in politics: Stacey Abrams is a two-time statewide election loser. How bright is her political future?

The U.S. Senate race between incumbent Raphael Warnock and Republican challenger Herschel Walker went to a runoff after neither candidate managed to achieve 50% of the vote in the Nov. 8 general election.

The day after the election, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger formally announced the runoff and suggested that counties were likely to have Saturday voting. Due to legislation passed in 2016, that will not be possible. The Atlanta Journal Constitution first reported the lack of Saturday voting in the runoff.

Early voting must begin no later than Nov. 28 and run through Dec. 2.

Counties may still choose to hold early voting on Sunday, Nov. 27. Early voting locations must be open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and can be open from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. The release from Evans also said that the Secretary of State's office is hoping to certify the results of the Nov. 8 general election on Nov. 21.

This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: GA runoff will not include Saturday voting due to holidays