The irony of the Georgia runoff elections
The effect of having complicated systems born in racial animus has been to give the Democrats another bite at the apple
Who’d have thunk it? The final curtain of 2020, of all years, in all the gin joints, among all the states, will fall in Georgia. The Peach State is the new center of gravity for American politics, was among the deciders of the presidential election and is the final decider for control of the U.S. Senate and the country’s policy direction.
On Tuesday, Jan. 5, Georgia will hold two runoff elections for the U.S. Senate because no candidate received a majority in November. Why hold runoff elections rather than just rewarding the candidate with the most votes? The underlying logic is that nobody should be put in office without receiving a majority of the votes cast. With multiple candidates, when the frontrunner does not meet the 50% majority threshold, the top two face each other in a runoff.
It’s all about the quirks that go with being a federal system. The beautiful and sometimes ugly part of federalism is all the variation it produces among states.
Runoffs were weapons for segregationists
The original idea behind runoff elections was undoubtedly motivated by benign concerns about the need to ensure majority rule. However, segregationists seized upon it as a weapon against minority representation, part of the toolbox for frustrating electoral success for Black citizens.
Georgia instituted runoff elections statewide in the 1960s as a method of ensuring that the white majority would prevail. The idea was that multiple white candidates might split the vote and allow a unified Black electorate to prevail with a plurality, but not a majority. A runoff would narrow the field to two, and the white majority would eventually prevail.
While runoff elections are not necessarily racially motivated, there was enough history and potential for abuse to lead to their being targeted for scrutiny under the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
David Perdue vs. Jon Ossoff
The David Perdue-jon Ossoff Senate contest in Georgia followed the usual pattern. The Democrats and Republicans each held a primary. The winners, plus any other candidates from minor parties, would face off in the general election. However, most states do not have a runoff at this point. Perdue would have won narrowly by 90,000, but with only 49.7% of the votes. The whole thing would be over but for a third-party candidate from the Libertarian Party who received just enough votes (2%) to force a runoff.
In just about any other state, Perdue would have been the winner. Mitch Mcconnell would preside over the Senate. And implementing Joe Biden’s agenda would be a whole lot more problematic. The runoff changed everything.
Kelly Loeffler vs. Raphael Warnock
Even stranger is the situation for the special election to fill the seat that Republican Johnny Isakson had to give up for health reasons in 2019. The governor subsequently appointed Kelly Loeffler, who soon ended up in a bit of hot water over insider trading allegations. That brought on Donald Trump favorite Doug Collins.
There were no primaries to sort out the preferences of each party. Democrat Raphael Warnock received the most votes in a contest among the Democrats, Republicans Loeffler and Collins and a few others in what’s known as a blanket primary.
In most states the special election would have proceeded much as the Perdue-ossoff general. In that case the race would have come down to a Republican and a Democrat on the November ballot. Both Republicans would have likely prevailed. We know Perdue would have won.
The effect of having these complicated systems born in racial animus has been to give the Democrats another bite at the apple. Both Republicans hold slight leads in what looks to be another tight election.
Death by runoff is a real possibility for Republicans. And one consequence may be passage of another version of the Voting Rights Act. Clearly the law of unintended consequences has not been repealed. Rhett Butler and Lester Maddox must be spinning in their respective graves.
William Lyons worked as a professor of political science at the University of Tennessee and served for more than 16 years in a number of policy-related roles for Knoxville Mayors Bill Haslam, Daniel Brown, Madeline Rogero and Indya Kincannon.