Brad Raffensperger is right: Georgia should end its runoffs

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) urged his state’s legislature Wednesday to consider scrapping general election runoffs, which he describes as a logistical nightmare and an intrusion on Thanksgiving. “No one wants to be dealing with politics in the middle of their family holiday,” he said. All true, but Mr. Raffensperger didn’t even mention the strongest reason: The practice is a Jim Crow relic intended to dilute African American voting power.

The fact that Sen. Raphael G. Warnock ( D), a Black pastor who preaches from the same pulpit the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. once used, won a second runoff last week in as many years doesn’t change the history. But it might make the GOPcontrolled assembly more amenable to removing the requirement that a candidate win an outright majority. A plurality in November is good enough in every other state but Louisiana.

Georgia created this system in 1964 in direct response to a surge of Black voter registration. The same legislation also required a literacy test, though the 1965 federal voting rights law struck those down. The lead sponsor of the runoff bill blamed African Americans for costing him an earlier election by voting as a “bloc” with White moderates, and later admitted under oath that his proposal was motivated by racism — though the system withstood a 1990 challenge by the Justice Department.

Mr. Raffensperger expresses openness to several reforms, including ranked-choice voting. Georgia’s controversial voting law last year shortened the gap between the general and runoff from nine weeks to 28 days. Because of that compressed schedule, Georgia lawmakers allowed military and overseas voters to rank candidates on their first ballot. This worked well. Why not try such an “instant runoff” for everyone?

It’s also economical: A recent Kennesaw State University study estimates that the 2020 runoffs cost Georgia taxpayers $75 million, although TV stations surely love the bonus advertising revenue.

Another idea floated by Mr. Raffensperger is lowering the threshold needed to win outright to 45%. The legislature actually did this in 1994, but Republicans changed it back because they were angry about narrowly losing a subsequent Senate race. Then-Gov. Sonny Perdue (R) signed the bill. Ironically, his cousin would have won the 2020 U.S. Senate race — and Republicans would have maintained control of the chamber — if he hadn’t done so. Sen. David Perdue received 49.7% in the general, but Democrat Jon Ossoff overtook him in the runoff.

Ultimately, more than 3.5 million Georgians cast ballots in this month’s runoff, about 90% of general election turnout. “Just because people endured long lines,” Mr. Warnock said in his victory speech, “doesn’t mean that voter suppression does not exist.” At a minimum, the legislature should resist any temptation to make voting harder when it reconvenes in Atlanta on Jan. 9.