| Christian Conte | Georgia Recorder |
Georgia law requires candidates to receive a majority of the vote (50% plus one) to win an election, thus forcing runoff elections if no candidate secures that majority. Most U.S. states only require a plurality to win: the candidate who earns the most votes wins outright. Close races in recent Georgia elections – and crowded primaries – mean frequent runoffs. That’s more money and effort to conduct the election, more spending and TV ads by candidates, and another time voters head to the polls. Getting a majority of the vote is a good thing. It forces a candidate to win over a majority of voters casting ballots rather than winning by a lower threshold.
A better alternative
Ranked-choice voting is a better alternative. It still forces the ultimate winner to earn a majority of the vote but eliminates the need for a second election. Instead of selecting one candidate in each race, voters rank candidates in order of preference. This is helpful in a primary election when voters may have difficulty selecting one candidate out of many. Seven Democrats and eight Republicans ran for governor in this month’s primary. Ranking candidates does not force voters to pick one, when they may like several candidates, but instead allows voters to rank from their favorite to least favorite.