A Georgia state lawmaker introduced a bill to lower the threshold needed to avoid a runoff election after residents voted in a runoff in 2020 and 2022.
Georgia’s election laws currently require a candidate to earn 50% plus one vote to win an election outright and avoid a runoff. But the legislation proposed this week would lower the threshold to 45%.
“We have too many elections here in Georgia,” state Rep. Saira Draper, D, told FOX 5 Atlanta.
“Basically what it accounts for is that so-called spoiler candidate—that candidate that is going to get one or two percent of the vote that doesn’t represent the values of the people—but again, it prevents any one candidate from getting 50%,” Draper continued.
GEORGIA DEMOCRAT SHREDDED FOR SMEARING JUSTICE THOMAS AS AN ‘UNCLE TOM:’ ‘DISGUSTING’
Georgia has seen a runoff election in the last two elections for U.S. Senate seats.
In 2020, Republican David Perdue faced off against Democrat Jon Ossoff and Republican Kelly Loeffler went up against Democrat Raphael Warnock. Ossoff and Warnock ultimately won their races following a runoff two months later.
And in 2022, Warnock was challenged for his Senate seat by Republican Herschel Walker, with Warnock winning re-election after a runoff.
In both cases, a Libertarian Party candidate earned 2% of the vote in the general election, which helped keep the Republican and Democrat candidates from surpassing the 50% threshold.
“We looked at all the statewide runoff elections that stemmed from general elections over the last 15 years and if this 45% threshold had been in place then, we wouldn’t have seen any of those runoff elections,” Draper said.
GEORGIA LIBERTARIAN SENATE CANDIDATE WOULD BE ‘HAPPY’ TO FORCE RUNOFF, WANTS TO OFFER THIRD OPTION FOR VOTERS
Georgia runoff elections bring in fewer voters than in the general elections and, according to researchers from Kennesaw State University, the U.S. Senate runoffs following the 2020 general election cost $75 million…
Read the full article here
