ATLANTA (WSAV) – Georgia’s Voting Implementation Manager spoke out after Tuesday’s runoff saw a record 1.6 million voters.
The state said counties must confirm election results within 17 days, but it could be sooner.
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Gabe Sterling, the state’s ballot implementation manager, said runoff wait times averaged 3 minutes across the state. However, some voters say early voting in Atlanta had long lines of up to two hours.
“The main thing was that, in large part, the counties weren’t providing enough sites because a lot more voters came out early during the runoff,” Sterling said. “If we start the conversation about drains and we find a way to avoid or prolong them in the future, then those situations go away.”
Talks are already brewing in the state capital about abolishing the runoff system after six elections in two years.
“There are several ways they can get past a drain in the first place,” Sterling said. “You can go to the 45% or 47% or some percentage other than 50 for a general election, you can go to an immediate runoff.”
“It’s certainly going to come up and probably have hearings during a legislature, you know, every time you mess around with the electoral code or change it, there’s an accusation that you’re trying to draft an outcome,” said Bill Crane, a voting expert from Atlanta.
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“It is a decision of the legislature. We’re agnostics,” Sterling said. “We say, ‘This is the policy that needs to be addressed, all of you, as elected lawmakers can choose what policy preferences you wish to meet.’ But we think there needs to be a discussion, we can be there to facilitate it and answer specific questions about how it will impact actual voters. Because every election teaches us something that we need to address in the next election so that voters in Georgia have the best possible experience.”
State lawmakers are expected to be discussing threats to democracy and voting rights in less than a month when they return to the 2023 legislative session on Jan. 9.
While talks have raged over the efficiency of the runoff, voting groups say the last runoff cost taxpayers $10 million in poll workers and training.
