Only two states, Louisiana and Georgia, participate in the antiquated and misguided runoff election process, and it is time for Georgia to abandon the practice.
The process creates what feels like a never-ending election cycle, causes candidates to have to raise even more money to stay in the game, puts a strain on local election officials and is nothing more than the legacy of a by-gone era.
While some have criticized Georgia election laws as being “Jim Crow 2.0,” despite the fact that Georgia has some of the most liberal election laws in the country, the runoff process is truly the last remaining vestige of a Jim Crow law on the books.
In the 1960s, during the height of the Civil Rights Movement, the election law was changed as a way to dilute the voting power of Black citizens. The Amendment was pushed by none other than segregationist Democrat Denmark Groover.
After Groover lost re-election in 1962, it was determined that it was Black voters in Groover’s hometown of Macon who came out en masse to oust him from office. Groover openly admitted that the runoff process was designed to curtail Black representation in Atlanta and Washington.
Groover’s other claim to fame was leading the charge to place the Confederate battle flag emblem on the state flag as a method of intimidating Black citizens.
In today’s world, it is the third-party candidate receiving one to three percent of the vote and triggering the runoff, leading to a colossal waste of everyone’s time. In the latest election, Senator Warnoff led in the general election and ended up winning the runoff, meaning he was Georgia’s clear choice despite not meeting the 50 percent plus one vote requirement the first time around.
The only winners in the runoff process are the media companies that get a year-end cash infusion from more wall-to-wall political ads.
Groover is long-buried, and his disgraceful legacy should be buried along with him. It is time to revert to a simple majority as the yardstick for election.
If nothing else, getting rid of the runoff will spare the entire population from having to hear an extra month of annoying political ads.
