Since Saxby Chambliss's victory on Tuesday, there have been a lot of editorials on what meaning we should assign to it. The Republicans are spinning that it meant everything and gives us a peek into how 2010 will go. The Democrats say it is meaningless, in that an incumbent Republican winning an election in a still red state is not exactly earth shattering. There were some more nuanced posts by Nate Silver and Marc Ambinder worth reading for their interesting insights. Still, neither the spin nor the clever takes on the runoff got it right. The truth is that the only thing it told me is that Georgia needs to get rid of the useless runoff law. Now from today, I learned there are compelling historical reasons to get rid of it, too.
I just moved to Georgia in late 2007, yet I have traveled to the polls five times. Yes, count 'em, FIVE TIMES. First I voted for Barack Obama in the presidential primary. That is understandable and unique to this year. So far so good. Next up came the Senate Democratic primary, also a normal thing to vote on for a Democrat. I cast my vote for Jim Martin. And then came the runoff. Now, in this particular year, that worked in my favorite's favor, as Vernon Jones had won the first primary. However, since nobody got to 50% it was back to the polls, so that 3 people in my Republican district could vote once more for the Senate Democratic nominee. As happy as I was to kick the controversial Jones to the curb, I realize now, that he was done an injustice. And as you will learn below, that is why the runoff was invented. Finally, fast forward to Election Night, when Saxby Chambliss won. Yes, in nearly any other state, he would have won on Election Night. I cannot tell a lie that I wish he had gotten over 50% the first time. Because I knew he would win the runoff; it's just that we would be subjected to four more weeks of negative ads, robo calls, and guilt trip appeals from Democrats to phonebank for Jim Martin. And that is exactly what happened. Saxby Chambliss won on Election Night. Then in what can only be described as a ceremonial repeat, he won again on Tuesday.
My thoughts, as a newcomer to Georgia was get rid of the damned thing! It is a waste of time and money, and accomplishes nothing. However, I was truly taken aback to learn from the op-ed pages today in the Atlanta Journal Constitution that the runoff was created right after the Voting Rights Act to prevent black Democrats from being elected:
Georgia’s runoff law has run voters ragged
Segregationist relic is costly, irrational and should be abandoned
...
The runoff law was adopted in Georgia and other states throughout the South around the time of the Voting Rights Act, when white politicians feared blacks would rally behind a single candidate who would get a plurality of votes in a crowded race. Since then, the requirement has become an expensive albatross that hands a relatively small number of voters an inordinate amount of power.
At a cost of at least $1 million, for example, the second round of elections this year drew barely half the turnout of the November elections.
All but eight states decide elections based simply on which candidate gets the most votes. Georgia has held on to the antiquated 50 percent-plus-one-vote rule largely for partisan rather than rational reasons.
The editorialist continues with a history of the game both Democrats and Republicans have played in the state jockeying for what they think is a better position politically. Seeing that it has blown up in each other's faces (it is the Republicans who restored the 50 plus 1% runoff in 2004 which led their own Senator to be stuck in another runoff election), they should, in the spirit of bipartisanship, come together and get rid of the law for good. Most importantly, he points out that on the presidential level, candidates have won in the past with less than 50%:
In 1992, Bill Clinton took office with 43 percent of the vote. Four years later he was re-elected with 49 percent of the vote.
I would also mention the fact that Barack Obama's historic win in Iowa would have been thrown out if the Georgia law applied to Iowa's presidential caucus. So would have Hillary's New Hampshire primary win. It would have been chaos. And imagining that, you get the idea of what the system is like in Georgia. For the first time, I now understand the pain Vernon Jones went through, losing the Democratic primary runoff, while winning the first. I am not a fan of Mr. Jones, but I realize now that old time racism was behind the system that prevented him from achieving his dream of being the Senate Democratic nominee. Seeing that it was invented to keep white segregationists in power, isn't it time to get rid of it? Here is hoping that the lawmakers in Georgia agree, and abolish it (with Justice Department approval which is required in Georgia) for good.