Here’s why Georgia is heading to runoff elections and who's going
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ATLANTA - Georgia voters will return to the polls June 16 after several closely watched primary races failed to produce outright winners Tuesday night, triggering runoff elections across the state.
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Under Georgia law, candidates must receive at least 50% plus one vote to win a primary outright. If no candidate reaches that threshold, the top two finishers advance to a runoff election.
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Who is headed to runoffs
The highest-profile runoff on the Republican side will determine who advances to the November gubernatorial election. Burt Jones finished first in the GOP primary with about 38% of the vote, while businessman Rick Jackson received roughly 33%, setting up a June showdown after neither candidate reached a majority. Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms avoided a Democratic runoff by winning more than 56% of the vote.
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Georgia’s Republican U.S. Senate race is also headed to a runoff. Mike Collins led the Republican field with about 41% of the vote, while former football coach Derek Dooley finished second with roughly 30%. The winner will challenge Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff in November.
Runoffs are also set in both parties’ lieutenant governor races. On the Democratic side, Josh McLaurin and Nabilah Parkes advanced after each captured about 40% of the vote. Republican state Sens. John F. Kennedy and Greg Dolezal also advanced to a GOP runoff after emerging from a crowded Republican field.
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Both parties will also hold runoff elections for Secretary of State. Democrat Dana Barrett will face Penny Brown Reynolds, while Republicans Tim Fleming and Vernon Jones advanced to their party’s runoff.
Additional statewide runoff races include the Democratic contests for labor commissioner and insurance commissioner. Nikki Porcher and Michele Sanchez advanced in the labor commissioner race, while Keisha Sean Waites and DeAndre Mathis advanced in the Democratic insurance commissioner race.
The state school superintendent races remained unclear early Wednesday. Democratic candidate Lydia Powell held 50% of the vote, while Republican incumbent Richard Woods also sat just under 50%, according to preliminary returns. It was not immediately clear whether either race would avoid a runoff once final totals are certified.
Several congressional races are also unresolved. Democratic runoffs are scheduled in Georgia’s 1st Congressional District between Joyce Griggs and Amanda Hollowell; the 7th District between Tony Kozycki and Case Norton; and the 12th District between Ceretta Smith and Traci George. Republicans in the 11th Congressional District will also return to the polls, where John Cowan and Rob Adkerson advanced to a runoff.
Public Service Commission races also remained unsettled. In District 3, Republican candidates Fitz Johnson and Brandon Martin were separated by only a small number of votes early Wednesday, and it was not immediately clear whether the race would require a runoff or recount once all votes are finalized. In District 5, Republicans Josh Tolbert and Bobby Mehan appeared headed to a runoff after no candidate secured a majority in the three-way primary.
Note: The above information is based on results as of 9:30 a.m. May 20. Results have not yet been certified by the Secretary of State and are subject to change.
History of runoff system
Georgia is one of a small number of states that still requires candidates to win a majority of the vote in order to avoid a runoff election.
What we know:
Similar runoff systems are used in several other states, including Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, South Carolina and Texas, though the rules vary by state. Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi also use runoff elections in certain general election races if no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote. In some states, including North Carolina and South Dakota, runoff elections are triggered only under specific circumstances tied to vote percentages or candidate requests.
Georgia’s runoff election system traces its roots to the post-Civil War era and the state’s long history of voting laws that historians say were designed in part to preserve white political power, according to the U.S. Vote Foundation. After the emancipation of enslaved Black Americans and the expansion of voting rights for Black men during Reconstruction, Southern states, including Georgia, adopted a series of policies aimed at limiting the growing political influence of Black voters. Those efforts included disenfranchisement laws, intimidation and violent voter suppression tactics that were widespread across the South during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Before Georgia adopted its modern runoff system, the state used the "county unit system" from 1917 until 1962. Under that system, counties were assigned unit votes regardless of population size, giving sparsely populated rural counties outsized influence in statewide primary elections. Candidates who won the popular vote in a county received all of that county’s unit votes, similar to a winner-take-all system.
Critics argued the county unit system diluted the voting power of urban areas with larger Black populations by giving rural counties far greater weight in elections. In some cases, a handful of rural counties with only a few thousand voters carried the same political influence as large urban counties with hundreds of thousands of residents.
The U.S. Supreme Court struck down the county unit system in 1962 after a series of rulings establishing the principle of "one person, one vote." Georgia lawmakers later adopted the runoff election system, requiring candidates to win a majority of votes rather than simply the largest share of votes in a crowded field.
Historians and voting rights scholars have said the runoff system was viewed by some segregation-era lawmakers as a way to maintain political control after the county unit system was eliminated. Supporters of runoff elections, however, have argued the system ensures nominees receive majority support from voters before advancing to the general election.
Who can vote in runoff elections
Any registered Georgia voter can participate in the June 16 runoff elections, even if they did not vote in the May primary. Because Georgia has an open primary system, voters may choose either the Democratic or Republican runoff ballot. However, voters who participated in one party’s primary generally must stay within that same party for the runoff and cannot switch parties between the primary and runoff election.
Voters must also be registered by the state’s runoff registration deadline in order to participate. Early voting for the runoff begins June 8.