Georgia runoff sees turnout drop 10%. Ranked choice voting can help.
On Tuesday, Georgia held a statewide runoff election in the Democratic primary for Public Service Commission District 3. Turnout fell 10% from the primary, and taxpayers may have spent as much as $100 per vote.
If Georgia used ranked choice voting (RCV) – also known as instant runoff voting – voters could select majority winners in a single, high-turnout Election Day, without the extra cost of holding runoffs. RCV is a faster, cheaper, better alternative to runoffs.
Runoffs frequently have far lower turnout than the initial election. The 10% turnout decline in this race is actually modest compared to the norm; in Georgia’s December 2024 local runoffs, turnout plummeted 92%. The median turnout decline for Georgia statewide runoffs dating back to 1992 is 44%.
Taxpayers also have to pay more for less. Prior to the Public Service Commission runoff, Miller County Election Supervisor Jerry Calhoun expressed concern that:
The Democratic runoff might struggle to reach 1% turnout statewide. And counties could spend $10 million statewide to hold the election, based on a sampling of some county spending. That could be more than $100 per vote.
In the end, turnout was around 1.5% of the state’s 8 million registered voters, extremely close to Calhoun’s prediction.
This is not an isolated incident. Georgia’s runoffs have historically been expensive for voters and candidates alike. In 2020, the Georgia runoffs for U.S. Senate cost taxpayers $75 million, and an analysis by the New York Times found that candidates and their allies spent a staggering $920 million.
Ranked choice voting would address these problems by letting voters rank the candidates in order of preference in a single election. If a voter’s first choice doesn’t have a chance to win, their ballot counts for their next choice – simulating an instant runoff. Voters only have to go to the polls once, costs are lower, and turnout is higher.
Thankfully, Georgia already uses RCV for military and overseas voters – mailing them a ranked ballot alongside their ballot for the initial election. If a runoff occurs, the voter’s ranked ballot counts for whichever runoff candidate is ranked highest. Georgia should give all residents the same convenience by expanding RCV to every voter.
Visit Better Ballot Georgia to help bring RCV to the Peach State!
