By Jo Freeman
Georgia is one of only two states to require that elections be won by at least 50 percent of the vote. Neither Democrat Raphael Warnock nor Republican Herschel Walker received the necessary 50 percent in the November general election, when only 57 percent of Georgia voters cast a ballot. It’s ironic that both are Black men because the original purpose of the requirement for an absolute majority was to keep any Black person from being elected to high office. An electoral procedure crafted to keep Blacks out of higher office now requires that Georgia voters choose between two Black men to be their US Senator. In August of 2021 former NFL player Herschel Walker moved his residence from Texas to Georgia so he could run in the Republican primary for Senate. That’s why there will be a run-off election in Georgia on December 6.
Prior to 1960, Georgia had a very complex system for selecting winners of the Democratic primary that favored small rural counties. Since the Democrat inevitably won in November, it sometimes happened that candidates for statewide office who had won a bare plurality of the state primary vote would win the office. It was even possible to win a majority of the popular vote in the primary and still lose the nomination if that vote was from the urban counties. The federal court invalidated this system in 1962. In 1964 the legislature revised the election code, both to conform to the federal court decisions and to bring all of the disparate election laws on the books into one title. At that time, Blacks were almost 30 percent of the state population but barely 15 percent of all voters.
A good deal of public and private debate took place on how to limit the black vote. It was called the “bloc vote” on the assumption that all Blacks would vote as a bloc for whomever their leaders designated. The requirement that candidates receive a majority of votes cast in a primary to win nomination was extended to all state offices, necessitating run-offs. The purpose was to keep Blacks from winning an election if too many white candidates split the white vote. A run-off would allow the white majority to coalesce behind the most popular white candidate. At that time, the only primary was for the Democratic nomination; the Republicans nominated their candidates at conventions until 1970.
Over the next few decades Georgia became a purple state. Most whites left the Democratic Party as most Blacks became registered voters who favored the Democratic Party. Run-off elections became partisan as well as racial. The percentage required to win without a run-off was lowered to 45 percent, then raised again to 50 percent in 2005. Party competition meant that whichever party gained control of the state legislature altered the law to favor its candidates.
In 2020 Blacks were roughly a third of all voters, but enough whites voted Democratic to elect two Democratic Senators – in a January run-off. The state legislature remained under Republican control. After the 2020 Census, Georgia kept its 14 Representatives to the US House though it did alter some of the district lines. After the 2022 election, it still has 8 Republicans and 6 Democrats. All the Republicans are white but only one of the Democrats.
In August of 2021 former NFL player Herschel Walker moved his residence from Texas to Georgia so he could run in the Republican primary for Senate. He was encouraged to do this by former President Donald Trump and several national Republican leaders. They believed that a prominent Black man had a better chance of beating Democratic incumbent Raphael Warnock than anyone else. Walker won the primary, but there were three candidates in the November 8 general election. The Libertarian candidate got 2 percent of the vote. Walker received 48.49 percent and Raphael Warnock got 49.44 percent.
An electoral procedure crafted to keep Blacks out of higher office now requires that Georgia voters choose between two Black men to be their US Senator. That’s why there will be a run-off election in Georgia on December 6.
Copyright © 2022 by Jo Freeman
The initial part of this article is based on her manuscript Tell It Like It Is: Living History in the Southern Civil Rights Movement, 1965-66. She’s still looking for a publisher.
