Secretary of State’s Office preparing for December runoff

ATLANTA — With fewer than 10,000 votes left to be counted, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger says it is mathematically impossible for either Raphael Warnock or Herschel Walker to get to a majority 50% plus one vote.

Raffensperger says his office is now preparing for a Dec. 6 Senate runoff.

“I’ll ask voters to come out and vote one last time. We have no control over how many campaign ads our voters are going to see over the next 28 days but we’ll make sure we have honest and fair elections,” said Raffensperger.

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A change in Georgia law with Senate Bill 202 means instead of the nine-week runoff race we saw in the 2020 Senate elections, this runoff will be four weeks from now.

Deputy Secretary of State Gabriel Sterling says Georgia has had four-week runoffs in years past.

“The state has executed four-week runoffs in the past with early voting, with no excuse absentee and with Election Day voting. This (is) not the first time we’ve had to do that,” said Sterling.

Voters who registered for the general election, whether they voted or not, are eligible to vote in the runoff.

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Absentee ballots can be requested between now and Nov. 28. State officials expect early in-person voting to run for six days in Georgia’s largest counties, likely starting the Saturday after Thanksgiving.

“Our office has already begun the behind-the-scenes work to start building the ballots. The ballots are being built as we speak and counties are making preparations,” said Raffensperger.

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