Raffensperger calls on Georgia lawmakers to end runoff elections

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on Wednesday called on Georgia lawmakers to end state laws requiring runoff elections should no candidate clear 50% of the vote in the general contest.

"Georgia is one of the only states in the country with a General Election Runoff," he said in a Wednesday statement. "We're also one of the only states that always seems to have a runoff. I'm calling on the General Assembly to visit the topic of the General Election Runoff and consider reforms."

"No one wants to be dealing with politics in the middle of their family holiday," he continued. "It's even tougher on the counties who had a difficult time completing all of their deadlines, an election audit and executing a runoff in a four-week time period."

Of all the states in the Union, only Louisiana has a similar law governing runoff elections.

Raffensperger's comments follow a runoff election held earlier this month in which Georgia Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock defeated the Trump-backed GOP challenger Herschel Walker. Warnock finished first in the Nov. 8 contest but was just shy of the 50% threshold needed to avoid a runoff.

He originally won his seat after defeating then-Georgia Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler in a 2021 runoff.

Raffensperger, as secretary of state, is responsible for overseeing elections held in Georgia. He became one of the main targets of former President Donald Trump's wrath after the former president lost the state to President Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential contest. Trump had alleged widespread voter fraud cost him reelection and publicly denigrated Raffensperger for not investigating his claims more rigorously.