Georgia's Very Own Megathread!

[Roll Roons]

A summary of the Senate and gubernatorial results in each Metro ATL precinct with at least 40% Asian VAP:

DeKalb
Dunwoody (42.1% Asian): Warnock +38.3, Abrams +23.6 (Warnock +14.7)

Forsyth
Johns Creek (41.6% Asian): Walker +6.3, Kemp +22.5 (Warnock +16.2)
Windermere (41.1% Asian): Walker +13.5, Kemp +29.6 (Warnock +16.1)

Fulton
Alpharetta 12B (58.4% Asian): Warnock +28.4, Abrams +10.6 (Warnock +17.8 )
Johns Creek 1 (54.3% Asian): Warnock +24.4, Abrams +9.1 (Warnock +15.3)
Johns Creek 2 (46.2% Asian): Warnock +20.1, Abrams +3.9 (Warnock +16.2)
Johns Creek 7 (45.9% Asian): Warnock +20.3, Abrams +4.3 (Warnock +16.0)
Johns Creek 6 (41.9% Asian): Warnock +1.8, Kemp +12.3 (Warnock +14.1)
Sandy Springs 29A (40.9% Asian): Warnock +33.0, Abrams +20.3 (Warnock +12.7)

Gwinnett
Duluth I (54.5% Asian): Walker +0.1, Kemp +18.0 (Warnock +17.9)

All of this is to say that, as exits suggested, Abrams did very, very poorly with Asian voters, more noticeably so than with any other racial group. Of course, her biggest underperformances were in wealthy white precincts around Buckhead, Sandy Springs, and Brookhaven, but this assortment of precincts comes pretty close.

I feel like a lot of these Asian voters tend to be pretty wealthy and educated, so it's not terribly surprising that they have a penchant for splitting tickets like a lot of wealthy and educated white voters.

[ProgressiveModerate]

A summary of the Senate and gubernatorial results in each Metro ATL precinct with at least 40% Asian VAP:

DeKalb
Dunwoody (42.1% Asian): Warnock +38.3, Abrams +23.6 (Warnock +14.7)

Forsyth
Johns Creek (41.6% Asian): Walker +6.3, Kemp +22.5 (Warnock +16.2)
Windermere (41.1% Asian): Walker +13.5, Kemp +29.6 (Warnock +16.1)

Fulton
Alpharetta 12B (58.4% Asian): Warnock +28.4, Abrams +10.6 (Warnock +17.8 )
Johns Creek 1 (54.3% Asian): Warnock +24.4, Abrams +9.1 (Warnock +15.3)
Johns Creek 2 (46.2% Asian): Warnock +20.1, Abrams +3.9 (Warnock +16.2)
Johns Creek 7 (45.9% Asian): Warnock +20.3, Abrams +4.3 (Warnock +16.0)
Johns Creek 6 (41.9% Asian): Warnock +1.8, Kemp +12.3 (Warnock +14.1)
Sandy Springs 29A (40.9% Asian): Warnock +33.0, Abrams +20.3 (Warnock +12.7)

Gwinnett
Duluth I (54.5% Asian): Walker +0.1, Kemp +18.0 (Warnock +17.9)

All of this is to say that, as exits suggested, Abrams did very, very poorly with Asian voters, more noticeably so than with any other racial group. Of course, her biggest underperformances were in wealthy white precincts around Buckhead, Sandy Springs, and Brookhaven, but this assortment of precincts comes pretty close.

I feel like a lot of these Asian voters tend to be pretty wealthy and educated, so it's not terribly surprising that they have a penchant for splitting tickets like a lot of wealthy and educated white voters.

The Asian Community, not just in Georgia, but across the US is often a bit annoying to analyze because outside like LA and NYC, you don't get consistent pockets of 70 or 80%+ Asian precincts. Asians also tend to be a pretty low turnout group. In Georgia, there are only a few 50%+ Asian precincts, so it's possible some of these shifts could be attributed to the higher turnout white populations in these communities.

Generally though, it seems Asians tend to favor incumbents unless the incumbent does something to particularly piss their community off (see NY-Gov), so it's not surprising if Kemp pretty significantly outran Walker with these voters.

[Vice President Christian Man]

This is what a political speech should look like

https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2022/12/02/obama-warnock-campaign-rally-four-year-old-vpx.cnn

[skbl17]

With the runoff behind us, Raffensperger will present three proposals to the General Assembly on the future of GA's voting system. According to The New York Times (the article doesn't appear to be paywalled):

Mr. Raffensperger said he would present three proposals to lawmakers. They include forcing large counties to open more early-voting locations to reduce hourslong lines like the ones that formed at many Metro Atlanta sites last week; lowering the threshold candidates must achieve to avoid a runoff to 45 percent from 50 percent; and instituting a ranked-choice instant-runoff system that would not require voters to come back to the polls again after the general election.

There is history for the "45% to avoid a runoff" rule: it was put in place by the conservadem-dominated General Assembly in the 1990s, but the now GOP-controlled legislature returned it to 50% in the mid-2000s. Personally, I'd rather keep it at 50%.

All in for the IRV proposal, but we'll see if any of it passes.

[Хahar 🤔]

Placing a runoff threshold anywhere other than 50% defeats the purpose of holding a runoff. In theory I'm supportive of ranked choice voting, but I don't think that there's a single state in the country that I would trust to administer a ranked election in an efficient and timely manner. A two-round system oof already pretty good, so I don't think that the marginal improvement in the level of democracy of the outcome would justify the increase in delays.

Over the last two cycles, the existing runoff system has certainly attracted attention to Georgia. Traditionally this has been a good thing; this was the reasoning that led Nebraska and Maine to change the allocation of their electoral votes.

[Intell]

A summary of the Senate and gubernatorial results in each Metro ATL precinct with at least 40% Asian VAP:

DeKalb
Dunwoody (42.1% Asian): Warnock +38.3, Abrams +23.6 (Warnock +14.7)

Forsyth
Johns Creek (41.6% Asian): Walker +6.3, Kemp +22.5 (Warnock +16.2)
Windermere (41.1% Asian): Walker +13.5, Kemp +29.6 (Warnock +16.1)

Fulton
Alpharetta 12B (58.4% Asian): Warnock +28.4, Abrams +10.6 (Warnock +17.8 )
Johns Creek 1 (54.3% Asian): Warnock +24.4, Abrams +9.1 (Warnock +15.3)
Johns Creek 2 (46.2% Asian): Warnock +20.1, Abrams +3.9 (Warnock +16.2)
Johns Creek 7 (45.9% Asian): Warnock +20.3, Abrams +4.3 (Warnock +16.0)
Johns Creek 6 (41.9% Asian): Warnock +1.8, Kemp +12.3 (Warnock +14.1)
Sandy Springs 29A (40.9% Asian): Warnock +33.0, Abrams +20.3 (Warnock +12.7)

Gwinnett
Duluth I (54.5% Asian): Walker +0.1, Kemp +18.0 (Warnock +17.9)

All of this is to say that, as exits suggested, Abrams did very, very poorly with Asian voters, more noticeably so than with any other racial group. Of course, her biggest underperformances were in wealthy white precincts around Buckhead, Sandy Springs, and Brookhaven, but this assortment of precincts comes pretty close.

I feel like a lot of these Asian voters tend to be pretty wealthy and educated, so it's not terribly surprising that they have a penchant for splitting tickets like a lot of wealthy and educated white voters.

The Asian Community, not just in Georgia, but across the US is often a bit annoying to analyze because outside like LA and NYC, you don't get consistent pockets of 70 or 80%+ Asian precincts. Asians also tend to be a pretty low turnout group. In Georgia, there are only a few 50%+ Asian precincts, so it's possible some of these shifts could be attributed to the higher turnout white populations in these communities.

Generally though, it seems Asians tend to favor incumbents unless the incumbent does something to particularly piss their community off (see NY-Gov), so it's not surprising if Kemp pretty significantly outran Walker with these voters.

I think another factor is that asians that live in heavily asian precincts are quite different to asians that live in more mixed/white areas.

[ملكة كرينجيتوك]

A summary of the Senate and gubernatorial results in each Metro ATL precinct with at least 40% Asian VAP:

DeKalb
Dunwoody (42.1% Asian): Warnock +38.3, Abrams +23.6 (Warnock +14.7)

Forsyth
Johns Creek (41.6% Asian): Walker +6.3, Kemp +22.5 (Warnock +16.2)
Windermere (41.1% Asian): Walker +13.5, Kemp +29.6 (Warnock +16.1)

Fulton
Alpharetta 12B (58.4% Asian): Warnock +28.4, Abrams +10.6 (Warnock +17.8 )
Johns Creek 1 (54.3% Asian): Warnock +24.4, Abrams +9.1 (Warnock +15.3)
Johns Creek 2 (46.2% Asian): Warnock +20.1, Abrams +3.9 (Warnock +16.2)
Johns Creek 7 (45.9% Asian): Warnock +20.3, Abrams +4.3 (Warnock +16.0)
Johns Creek 6 (41.9% Asian): Warnock +1.8, Kemp +12.3 (Warnock +14.1)
Sandy Springs 29A (40.9% Asian): Warnock +33.0, Abrams +20.3 (Warnock +12.7)

Gwinnett
Duluth I (54.5% Asian): Walker +0.1, Kemp +18.0 (Warnock +17.9)

All of this is to say that, as exits suggested, Abrams did very, very poorly with Asian voters, more noticeably so than with any other racial group. Of course, her biggest underperformances were in wealthy white precincts around Buckhead, Sandy Springs, and Brookhaven, but this assortment of precincts comes pretty close.

Are you referring to the GA-GOV exit poll showing Asian voters as 54-46 Abrams and Latino voters as 55-43 Abrams? As opposed to 59-39 Warnock and 58-39 Warnock respectively?

Also I'm assuming the parentheses results are for the runoff? Analysis of percentages is kind of meaningless without raw vote counts.

I feel like a lot of these Asian voters tend to be pretty wealthy and educated, so it's not terribly surprising that they have a penchant for splitting tickets like a lot of wealthy and educated white voters.

The Asian Community, not just in Georgia, but across the US is often a bit annoying to analyze because outside like LA and NYC, you don't get consistent pockets of 70 or 80%+ Asian precincts. Asians also tend to be a pretty low turnout group. In Georgia, there are only a few 50%+ Asian precincts, so it's possible some of these shifts could be attributed to the higher turnout white populations in these communities.

Generally though, it seems Asians tend to favor incumbents unless the incumbent does something to particularly piss their community off (see NY-Gov), so it's not surprising if Kemp pretty significantly outran Walker with these voters.

I think another factor is that asians that live in heavily asian precincts are quite different to asians that live in more mixed/white areas.

Yeah education, nativity, age, household income, and occupation/industry matter a lot.

[Born to Slay. Forced to Work.]

With the runoff behind us, Raffensperger will present three proposals to the General Assembly on the future of GA's voting system. According to The New York Times (the article doesn't appear to be paywalled):

Mr. Raffensperger said he would present three proposals to lawmakers. They include forcing large counties to open more early-voting locations to reduce hourslong lines like the ones that formed at many Metro Atlanta sites last week; lowering the threshold candidates must achieve to avoid a runoff to 45 percent from 50 percent; and instituting a ranked-choice instant-runoff system that would not require voters to come back to the polls again after the general election.

There is history for the "45% to avoid a runoff" rule: it was put in place by the conservadem-dominated General Assembly in the 1990s, but the now GOP-controlled legislature returned it to 50% in the mid-2000s. Personally, I'd rather keep it at 50%.

All in for the IRV proposal, but we'll see if any of it passes.

Wait he’s trying to get ranked choice voting??? Let’s f’ing go. I hope it actually passes

[Interlocutor is just not there yet]

Very surprised but very pleased that Georgia could take up instant runoffs

[GeorgiaModerate]

Very surprised but very pleased that Georgia could take up instant runoffs

From what I've heard, Georgia election officials are not fans of the current runoff system, to put it mildly.

[Adam Griffin]

With regard to the above discussion, I pretty much called it last week. The main problem with the old plurality FPTP system (45% +1) is that it still presents the same fundamental challenge for the GOP as the current system (i.e. that winning Democratic candidates are coming in first place and above 45% anyway).

The only benefits to 45% + 1 would be either in favor of Democrats (see above), or non-partisan: it would reduce the number of primary and general runoffs occurring, particularly at the local level (along with perhaps eliminating the occasional need for statewide runoffs; see SoS and PSC contests, 2018). This might reduce the number of runoff elections an individual county would have to conduct and therefore save a bit of money, but in practice (especially in primaries), it would more often just reduce the number of contests occurring during a particular runoff that would happen anyway (again, think of a county primary where one race has candidates at 37-33-30, while another has a race where it's 46-40-4: all that happens is the number of races in a runoff drops from 2 to 1, and the county still has to go through all of the logistical and financial trouble anyway).

IRV is the best solution for them because it at least gives them a chance to absorb enough Libertarian vote to hit 50%, and by the time it no longer can work in their favor, no electoral system (save the old county unit system being declared constitutional again) will be able to save them:

If any reform along these lines are made, it'll be IRV/"RCV": this will help the GOP absorb a majority of the Libertarian vote into their corner without the need for another election while also not having to face various turnout uncertainties/discrepancies.

I really doubt we'll ever see any outright abolition - as I mentioned before, perhaps a reversion to 45% + 1 vote as was the case during most of the 1990s/early 2000s, but absent that, status quo or IRV/"RCV" are the only other plausible choices.

Also, as an interesting side-note:

I also didn't know that Georgia implemented IRV this year for military/overseas voters:

Under the new system, military and overseas voters are sent instant-runoff ballots for the general election. It allows them to rank their second- and third-choice candidates upfront, rather than having to vote again in a runoff. If no candidate receives more than 50% support in the general election, votes for the highest-ranked remaining candidates would then be tallied.

State Rep. Wes Cantrell, R-Woodstock, co-sponsored the instant runoff legislation that was folded into the elections overhaul. He thinks that if ranked voting is successful with overseas and military voters, it could be expanded to all Georgia voters, making runoffs moot.

[Adam Griffin]

All doped up and nowhere to go!

https://www.cbsnews.com/atlanta/news/new-georgia-house-republican-arrested-on-drug-and-theft-charges/

WINDER, Ga. (AP) — An incoming Georgia state representative has been arrested after investigators said he stole prescription narcotics at the retirement complex he manages.

Danny Rampey, 67, of Statham, was arrested Thursday, jail records show. He was charged with six counts of obtaining drugs by misrepresentation or theft, six counts of exploiting an elder or disabled adult, five counts of burglary, and one count of drug possession.

Rampey remained jailed Friday with no bail set. It's unclear if he has a lawyer.

Rampey, a Republican, faced no general election opposition in his November victory in House District 119, which includes most of Barrow County. Rep. Terry England, the current officeholder, is retiring. Rampey easily won an earlier GOP primary.

The Athens Banner-Herald reports Rampey was arrested at Magnolia Estates of Winder, an assisted living complex that Rampey has managed for 38 years, according to his campaign website.

Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith said Rampey is believed to have burglarized a house that is part of the complex. Officials said the investigation began about two weeks ago after missing prescription narcotics were reported. Deputies said they arrested Rampey as he was leaving an unoccupied unit on Thursday.

[GeorgiaModerate]

https://twitter.com/bluestein/status/1604194628500086791

[Frodo]

All doped up and nowhere to go!

https://www.cbsnews.com/atlanta/news/new-georgia-house-republican-arrested-on-drug-and-theft-charges/

WINDER, Ga. (AP) — An incoming Georgia state representative has been arrested after investigators said he stole prescription narcotics at the retirement complex he manages.

Danny Rampey, 67, of Statham, was arrested Thursday, jail records show. He was charged with six counts of obtaining drugs by misrepresentation or theft, six counts of exploiting an elder or disabled adult, five counts of burglary, and one count of drug possession.

Rampey remained jailed Friday with no bail set. It's unclear if he has a lawyer.

Rampey, a Republican, faced no general election opposition in his November victory in House District 119, which includes most of Barrow County. Rep. Terry England, the current officeholder, is retiring. Rampey easily won an earlier GOP primary.

The Athens Banner-Herald reports Rampey was arrested at Magnolia Estates of Winder, an assisted living complex that Rampey has managed for 38 years, according to his campaign website.

Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith said Rampey is believed to have burglarized a house that is part of the complex. Officials said the investigation began about two weeks ago after missing prescription narcotics were reported. Deputies said they arrested Rampey as he was leaving an unoccupied unit on Thursday.

Did voters in his district know all this already, or did they not give a damn?  

[Adam Griffin]

All doped up and nowhere to go!

https://www.cbsnews.com/atlanta/news/new-georgia-house-republican-arrested-on-drug-and-theft-charges/

WINDER, Ga. (AP) — An incoming Georgia state representative has been arrested after investigators said he stole prescription narcotics at the retirement complex he manages.

Danny Rampey, 67, of Statham, was arrested Thursday, jail records show. He was charged with six counts of obtaining drugs by misrepresentation or theft, six counts of exploiting an elder or disabled adult, five counts of burglary, and one count of drug possession.

Rampey remained jailed Friday with no bail set. It's unclear if he has a lawyer.

Rampey, a Republican, faced no general election opposition in his November victory in House District 119, which includes most of Barrow County. Rep. Terry England, the current officeholder, is retiring. Rampey easily won an earlier GOP primary.

The Athens Banner-Herald reports Rampey was arrested at Magnolia Estates of Winder, an assisted living complex that Rampey has managed for 38 years, according to his campaign website.

Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith said Rampey is believed to have burglarized a house that is part of the complex. Officials said the investigation began about two weeks ago after missing prescription narcotics were reported. Deputies said they arrested Rampey as he was leaving an unoccupied unit on Thursday.

Did voters in his district know all this already, or did they not give a damn?  

Looks like all this began after the election:

Officials said the investigation began about two weeks ago after missing prescription narcotics were reported. Deputies said they arrested Rampey as he was leaving an unoccupied unit on Thursday.

Though if this had came to light after the primary but before the general, he would have still won (72-27 Trump HD). Possibly could have sunk him in the primary, though from what I gather, he didn't really have any strong opposition.

[Adam Griffin]

Swing, 2016 Presidential - 2022 Senatorial Runoff (D+7.89):

D-swinging counties comprise 84% of state population; R-swinging counties comprise 16% of state pop.

Biggest Swingers:
Henry: D+28.17
Rockdale: D+25.31
Douglas: D+22.84
Gwinnett: D+18.48
Fayette: D+18.21
Paulding: D+17.06
Cobb: D+16.97
Forsyth: D+15.47
Newton: D+15.36
Houston: D+12.38
Clinch: R+10.91
Seminole: R+10.07
Echols: R+9.46
Warren: R+8.70
Brooks: R+8.50
Jasper: R+8.26
Jefferson: R+7.80
Hancock: R+7.51
Lincoln: R+7.44
Elbert: R+7.30

https://davesredistricting.org/maps#viewmap::8b131441-52e1-4ad2-8e8c-48eaba1a12a2




Trend, 2016 Presidential - 2022 Senatorial Runoff (D+7.89):

Red counties = swung more D than the state as a whole
blue counties = swung less D than the state or swung R

D-trending counties comprise 63% of state population; R-trending counties comprise 37% of state pop.

[Rookie Yinzer]

I was on the GA SoS website looking at 2020 election results. It's lovely seeing the old Dem coalitions show up at the local level. So many uncontested Dem incumbents won local races across the Black Belt in toss-up and GOP leaning counties. The most eye popping Presidential to contested local deviations I saw: Jefferson County (Biden +7) re-elect their incumbent Democratic Coroner (D +43) and Sumter County (Biden +5) elect their first Black Sherriff (D +40).

If only things could be so fluid at the top of the ticket, but in those small communities reputation and relationships make a huge difference.

[Adam Griffin]

I was on the GA SoS website looking at 2020 election results. It's lovely seeing the old Dem coalitions show up at the local level. So many uncontested Dem incumbents won local races across the Black Belt in toss-up and GOP leaning counties. The most eye popping Presidential to contested local deviations I saw: Jefferson County (Biden +7) re-elect their incumbent Democratic Coroner (D +43) and Sumter County (Biden +5) elect their first Black Sherriff (D +40).

If only things could be so fluid at the top of the ticket, but in those small communities reputation and relationships make a huge difference.

I'm curious how well things have held up over the past 8-10 years. I'm sure it's crumbled a lot since then, when local offices were still majority-Democratic throughout a very large segment of the southern half of the state. I mapped out the outcomes of every race in the 2012 & 2014 races, but I don't know when I'll again have the motivation to sort through 3000+ results:

Full-sized image

(Also, "CR" = Coroner; no idea how I never noticed I missed including that on the legend)



Simplified:

[Adam Griffin]

Probably the best county example from the ones above:

Glascock, 2012-14:
84.96% Romney, 13.17% Obama
79.97% Deal, 16.98% Carter

50% D, 50% R County Commission (2-2)
100% Countywide Offices Won by Ds (5-0)

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

There is no Southern Strategy anymore Obama and Clinton broke it already, GA voted for Bill Clinton's
 In 1992, the reason why poor Southern WC voters rely on Obamacare just like they vote for LBJ for Medicare

[Rookie Yinzer]

Probably the best county example from the ones above:

Glascock, 2012-14:
84.96% Romney, 13.17% Obama
79.97% Deal, 16.98% Carter

50% D, 50% R County Commission (2-2)
100% Countywide Offices Won by Ds (5-0)

Found more from 2020:
Lanier County voted Trump +42, but was D +9 for Sheriff.

Thomas County, Trump +19, D +15 for Sheriff

Decatur County, Trump +17, D +27 for Sheriff

In 2016, Long County was Trump +31 but voted D +58 for Sheriff - the D Tax Commissioner and Coroner won uncontested. All the incumbents ran as Republicans in 2020 though.

Sheriff is a pretty easy office to be non partisan, and honestly conservative whether you're D or not, as most Black voters in these areas have conservative views on law enforcement as well so it's not alienating them when these candidates run as unabashedly pro-law enforcement so it makes sense and obviously you can't get much more non partisan than death re: coroner's offices, so it makes sense that those are the last vestiges of Democratic strength in rural GA... fascinating to see.

[Adam Griffin]

Probably the best county example from the ones above:

Glascock, 2012-14:
84.96% Romney, 13.17% Obama
79.97% Deal, 16.98% Carter

50% D, 50% R County Commission (2-2)
100% Countywide Offices Won by Ds (5-0)

Found more from 2020:
Lanier County voted Trump +42, but was D +9 for Sheriff.

Thomas County, Trump +19, D +15 for Sheriff

Decatur County, Trump +17, D +27 for Sheriff

In 2016, Long County was Trump +31 but voted D +58 for Sheriff - the D Tax Commissioner and Coroner won uncontested. All the incumbents ran as Republicans in 2020 though.

Sheriff is a pretty easy office to be non partisan, and honestly conservative whether you're D or not, as most Black voters in these areas have conservative views on law enforcement as well so it's not alienating them when these candidates run as unabashedly pro-law enforcement so it makes sense and obviously you can't get much more non partisan than death re: coroner's offices, so it makes sense that those are the last vestiges of Democratic strength in rural GA... fascinating to see.

Another one that I'd argue is even more impressive given its location and demographic makeup: my home county (Whitfield).

Romney +45, D Sheriff +24 (a 69-point difference!). This one really crushed the local GOP's spirits for winning the race: Chitwood (elected in 1992) ran uncontested in both 2016 & 2020.



Coroners have also been a very easy position for Democrats to hold due to the non-partisan nature of them. As an example, a majority of the NW GA counties in 2012 re-elected Democratic Coroners (counties in bright blue); in addition, Catoosa at the time had an officially non-partisan Coroner who was a lifelong Dem at the time:



Overall, I believe somewhere close to a majority of counties had Democratic Coroners and Democratic Sheriffs as of the 2012-14 elections. (I had mapped this out somewhere, but can't find it as of now).

Here's what the Deep South looked like in terms of all offices from 2011-2014 (should be an animated GIF showing presidential results vs county-level outcomes):

 

[GeorgiaModerate]

https://twitter.com/bluestein/status/1609289136111865857

[GeorgiaModerate]

Review panel: state should NOT take over Fulton County elections

A performance review of Fulton County election operations recommended against a state takeover Friday, finding that the county has made “significant improvement” since the 2020 election year.

“Replacing the board would not be helpful and would in fact hinder the ongoing improvements to Fulton County elections,” states the 19-page report by a three-person panel appointed by the State Election Board.

The review of election operations in Fulton, the most populous county in the state, arose from a provision in Georgia’s 2021 voting law that allowed troubled local election boards to be replaced following an investigation.

Elections in Fulton County, a Democratic stronghold that includes most of the city of Atlanta, have long been criticized by Republicans.

[skbl17]

A newly-introduced bipartisan bill, HB 200, would allow cities to adopt and use instant-runoff voting for municipal elections. The bill gets its first subcommittee hearing this Tuesday.

From the AJC:

“This is a starting point as a test if cities want to do it,” said state Rep. Joseph Gullett, a Republican from Dallas who introduced House Bill 200 on Wednesday. “If they’re successful at it, we’ll have an idea what this could look like in the state of Georgia. If it’s a terrible process, we’ll know that, too.”

About 58% of Georgia voters supported eliminating runoffs after general elections, making the candidate who receives the most votes the winner, according to a poll last month by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Several cities have proposed ranked-choice voting for municipal elections, including Atlanta and Woodstock, Gullett said.

So far, no bills have been proposed to adjust the runoff threshold or eliminate runoffs at the state level.