Election Day may have come and gone, but the race for control of the US Senate continues in Georgia, as its voters are on track to vote again in January for its two senators.
Under Georgia’s laws, a Senate candidate needs to hit 50% of the vote to avoid a runoff. Neither of the state’s Republican senators – David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler – have so far reached that cutoff, meaning both contests will likely go to a runoff January 5.
For Georgians wondering about the schedule, here are some key dates to remember as the second round of the races kick off, according to the Georgia Secretary of State’s website:
- November 18: Earliest day for a registrar to mail an absentee ballot for the general election runoff
- December 7: Voter registration deadline to vote in the federal runoff election
- December 14: Advanced in-person or early voting begins for the general election runoff for federal offices
- January 5, 2021: Federal runoff election day
Loeffler, who was appointed late last year to fill the seat of retiring Sen. Johnny Isakson, faced multiple candidates in her race, including the Rev. Raphael Warnock, a Democrat, and GOP Rep. Doug Collins, depriving her of enough votes to win outright.
Loeffler and Warnock advanced to the runoff, CNN projected last week. CNN has not yet made a projection in the Perdue race, which featured three candidates. But Democratic candidate Jon Ossoff looks to be pulling Perdue below the 50% threshold, making it almost certain that the pair will also meet in the January 5 election, as both candidates are already campaigning for the runoff.
Both GOP senators have followed President Donald Trump’s lead in making unfounded claims questioning the election’s integrity. On Monday, the pair asserted that “the management of Georgia elections has become an embarrassment for our state” and called for Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to resign. Raffensberger, a Republican, assured that such a move “is not going to happen.”
Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, also a Republican, said Monday his office has not seen any evidence of widespread voter fraud or irregularities in his state.
President-elect Joe Biden, who defeated Trump in the race for the presidency on Saturday after a win in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, is leading Georgia by more than 10,000 votes, though CNN has not projected a winner in the state.
CNN’s Alex Rogers, Fredreka Schouten, Manu Raju, Tina Burnside and Liz Turrell contributed to this report.
