The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for November 30, 2022
Today’s Links
Articles & Resources:
BallotPedia – Runoff elections
Washington Post – Runoff elections a relic of the Democratic South
National Conference of State Legislatures – Primary Runoff Elections
Democracy Docket – The Racist Roots of Runoffs in the South
Groups Taking Action:
Open Primaries, Fair Vote, Fair Fight, Power Coalition for Equity & Justice
Today’s Script:Â (Variations occur with audio due to editing for time)
You’re listening to the American Democracy Minute, keeping YOUR government by and for the people.
Yesterday, we reported on the two states which use runoffs in their elections, including Georgia, which has a U.S Senate runoff on December 6th, and Louisiana, for local elections & three ballot measures on December 10th. But did you know that runoffs are also used to determine party nominees in some states?
Ballotpedia reports that 10 states use top-two runoffs for primaries. Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Texas use runoff elections when no candidate has a clear 50% +1 vote majority to determine the party nominee going into the general election. In North Carolina, a candidate must receive 30% + 1 vote to win a primary, or face a runoff. In South Dakota, runoffs are used for partisan primaries for Congressional or gubernatorial seats when no candidate receives 35%, and in Vermont, runoffs are only used when a tie occurs.
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, primary runoff systems developed in the south to encourage candidates to broaden their appeal so extreme candidates would be less likely to get elected. In Arkansas, runoffs were used to prevent members of the Ku Klux Klan from getting elected with small pluralities in lower turnout primaries.
Another form of runoff, called an “instant runoff” or “ranked choice voting,” is being implemented in some cities, counties & states around the country. More on that tomorrow.
We have links to articles and resources AmericanDemocracyMinute.org. For the American Democracy Minute, I’m Brian Beihl.