Georgia senators move to ban expansion of ranked-choice voting method in the state

Ranked-choice voting is barely present in Georgia, but Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and some state senators want to keep it from expanding.

Under the voting method used in some elections in other states, voters rank their choices in order. Lower finishing candidates are then eliminated and their votes assigned to the surviving candidates until someone reaches a majority.

Supporters say the voting system could allow Georgia to avoid its system of runoff elections, required when a candidate doesn’t win. They say runoffs usually have lower turnouts than earlier rounds of voting, and that voters dislike them, especially Georgia’s unusual requirement for a runoff when no candidate wins a majority in the general election. Most states declare the highest finisher the winner in a general election, even if they don’t win a runoff.