Like many laws around elections in Georgia, the runoff rule — which has the power balance in the U.S. Senate on hold until Jan. 5 — was laced with racism.
Many states, especially in the South, require runoffs in party primaries if no candidate gets a majority. It helped prevent minorities from winning if there are more than two candidates in a race.
Georgia is the only state requiring these runoffs for general elections as well, and the reason for that maybe a 1966 contentious governor’s race, according to University of Georgia political scientist Charles Bullock.
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