Riots, Runoffs and Retrospect - A Shaky Start to a New Year
- Full Disclosure
- Jan 6, 2021
- 6 min read
Updated: Mar 27
By the Full Disclosure Team
At 7:00 PM yesterday, January 5th, about 4.6 million Americans had cast their ballots in the Georgia Senate elections. This record turnout underscored just how crucial Georgia voters viewed this election. But why was there a runoff election in Georgia in the first place? And what did the results hold for the country?
In Georgia, no candidate can advance through a primary or a general election system without first earning more than 50% of the votes. If no one does so, the two candidates with the most votes advance to a runoff election, ensuring that one will earn the majority of votes cast. In this election, the state had two Senate seats to fill, the first being a regular Senate seat, and the other a special election to fill the seat of sitting Senator Johnny Isakson (R) who retired on December 31st, 2019. In accordance with Georgia law, there was no primary election for the special election; instead, all candidates, regardless of party, were placed on the same ballot. This kind of election is known as a blanket primary (or a jungle primary) and in these instances, the election almost always goes to runoff, as it is incredibly unlikely, especially in this politically polarized climate, for a single candidate to receive more than 50% of the vote. Therefore, it came as no surprise when there was no candidate who received more than 50% of the votes in the November 3rd, 2020 election. Democrat Raphael Warnock earned 32.9% of the votes, Republican Kelly Loeffler received 25.9% and Republican Doug Collins received 20%. As the winning two, Loeffler and Warnock advanced into the Georgia Senate Runoff Election held yesterday. The second seat was contested by Sen. David Perdue (R) and Jon Ossoff (D). Shane T Hazel (Libertarian Party) received 2.32% which turned out to be enough to ensure that neither main party candidate reached above 50%. Perdue received 49.73% of the vote and Ossoff 47.95%.
The structure of the Georgian electoral system can be traced back to the Jim Crow era. It effectively began in 1962, when the Supreme Court struck down Georgia’s previous electoral system. The system preceding the present one, the “county-unit system,” was created in 1917, with the goal to amplify rural voters’ power while simultaneously disadvantaging Black voters’. State representative Denmark Groover led the fight in the early 1960s to enact a majority vote runoff rule for all county and state contests in primary and general elections. Groover was a staunch segregationist, with his personal hostility towards Black voters reinforced by how he lost his 1958 House seat when his opponent received cross-racial support that outweighed the white support he received five to one. Prior to 1963, plurality voting was widely used in Georgia county elections. While white voters often split their votes among many candidates, Black voters were able to rally behind one single candidate. Therefore, despite the fact that, at first glance, requiring a majority for an outright victory seems innocent, many historians argue the current system was put in place to help Georgia maintain white supremacy in its voting institutions, as could be seen all throughout the South at the time.
Now, nearly 60 years later, the Georgia runoff Senate election acted as one of the most impactful elections since the turn of the century. Traditionally, it has been difficult for candidates to harbor a large turnout for runoff elections, with Democrats especially struggling in such races. This election, however, proved to be different, with a turnout of approximately 4.6 million voters, 3 million of whom were early voters, coming in at about 92% of the overall Georgian voter turnout in the November general election. So why was this election so different? Control of the Senate was on the line.
Creator: Brynn Anderson | Credit: AP
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Prior to the November general election, Republicans held a 53-to-47 majority in the Senate. After the general election, the Republican Party had secured 48 seats and held a steady lead in two contests. In order for them to land a clear majority of 51 seats, however, they would have to win at least one of the two races in Georgia. At approximately 11:45 PM CT on January 5th, Warnock edged out Sen. Loeffler, garnering 50.8% of the votes with 98% of results in. Warnock is the state’s first Black Senator and the first Black Democratic Senator from any Southern state. A victory for Ossoff followed soon after, with him harboring 50.4% of the votes with 98% of the votes in. Ossoff is the first Jewish Senator from Georgia and will be the nation's youngest sitting Senator at age 33. They are the first democrats to win Senate seats in Georgia since 2000. Warnock has won a 2 year seat, whereas Ossoff’s is a full 6 years.
It will take several days for the Georgia runoffs to be officially certified, but the victories bring the Senate seats to 50-50. The last time the chamber was evenly split was in 2001, but it didn’t last for long as Vermont Sen. Jim Jeffords left the Republican Party in June to become an independent and caucus with the Democrats.
So what does this mean from a legislative standpoint? In the instance of a 50-50 tie, the vice president casts tie-breaking votes. With Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris stepping into that role, Democrats would officially have the majority in the Senate. This would allow Senator Chuck Schumer (D), who is expected to be the leader replacing Senator Mitch McConnell (R), to control what legislation is given priority and what proposals are blocked. This by no means provides the democratic party with an easy way out, as Senate rules require a minimum of 60 votes to pass, meaning they would be forced to have some form of Republican support in order to actually pass legislation. However, getting to set the agenda and block proposals is still a significant advantage for the Democratic party. Judges and executive branch nominees on the other hand need just a 51 vote majority to pass, which would likely allow President-elect Biden to quickly get his cabinet in place and even open up the possibility of a Supreme Court pick.
Photograph: José Luis Magaña/AP
These recent events have caused an uproar. In addition to the results of the runoff election, Congress was set to confirm that President-elect Joe Biden won the election, by counting the electoral votes today. However, this morning, thousands of President Trump’s supporters stormed Washington, most wearing MAGA hats rather than masks. President Trump continues to dispute election results, without evidence and is encouraging supporters to attend rallies, despite the Coronavirus pandemic having already claimed 357,000 lives in the United States alone, with national cases rising to 21.1 million.
Credit: Getty Images
The President spoke to the crowd around noon, falsely claiming he had won the election. Later at the Capitol, mobs swarmed, breaching security and successfully entering the building where lawmakers debated recounting electoral college votes. The Senate stopped its proceedings and the House doors were closed. A woman was fatally shot, the circumstances of which are still unclear. The entire D.C. National Guard was activated and military involvement was rapidly expanded after D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) requested guard members on duty to be sent to the Capitol and imposed a citywide curfew. Rep. Tim Ryan (D), chair of the committee that controls the Capitol Police budget, held a news conference to comment on the “enormous strategic and planning failures” of the Capitol Police: “This is the United States Capitol building, with the United States Congress in session handling the presidential election process,” promising to “get to the bottom of it.” Viral videos have shown officers allowing the mob through a gate and an officer who appeared to be posing with protesters for a selfie. Two suspected pipe bombs were found near RNC and DNC headquarters. Lawmakers inside the halls of congress described rioters ramming up against the doors, smashing windows, and breaking into officers. A photo has surfaced of a rioter with his feet up on the desk of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D).
Credit: EAP
The response to the riots has also been intense. President Trump was locked out of his Twitter account for 12 hours and saw three of his tweets removed, but the social media platform warned that the president may be subjected to a permanent suspension if he “continues tweeting baseless conspiracies about the election and inciting violence.” Facebook followed shortly after saying it had “assessed two policy violations” against Mr. Trump’s page and that it was blocking him from posting on the platform for 24 hours. Several House Democrats have called for impeaching Trump a second time. Despite the fact that the President is only scheduled to be in office for two more weeks, a full impeachment from the House and Senate could prevent Trump from running for re-election. Vice President Pence has also been attacked by a member of the House of Delegates for not acting to help overturn election results, even going as far as calling Pence a “traitor.” Political leaders around the world have condemned the riot at the US Capitol building and social media is buzzing with comparisons of the political response to the BLM protests with the storming of the capitol building.
Credit: Getty Images
For now, the only thing that can be said for certain is that the current situation of the nation is unprecedented and mystifying. Recent events were unfathomable a year ago. No one truly knows what will happen next from here, but one thing is for sure: the events of January 6th, 2021, will have a lasting impact on the nation as we observe history in the making.
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