December 4th runoff (Atlanta, North Atlanta: appointed, eat, suburbs)

[bu2]

Raffensberger and Eaton both projected to win--with around 54% of the vote at this point (88% in).

When I heard my precinct in deep blue Dekalb had 30% turnout, I figured the Democrats would win. But not the case.

1.3 million turnout already so it seems pretty good turnout for a runoff without any high profile races. In November 3.884 million voted in the Secretary of State race.

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by bu2

Raffensberger and Eaton both projected to win--with around 54% of the vote at this point (88% in).

When I heard my precinct in deep blue Dekalb had 30% turnout, I figured the Democrats would win. But not the case.

1.3 million turnout already so it seems pretty good turnout for a runoff without any high profile races. In November 3.884 million voted in the Secretary of State race.

I had been hearing reports during the early voting period that overall voter turnout was trending extremely heavily towards older white voters, which was something that appeared to favor the Republican candidates in the Secretary of State and Public Service Commission District 3 runoff races.

In addition to a lack of focus on and a lack of interest in the runoff races by Democrats after losing the gubernatorial race in the general election, as well as a noticeably steeper drop-off in voter turnout by Democrats than Republicans, Republican Secretary of State candidate Brad Raffensperger also appeared to get a major boost from an endorsement from President Donald Trump on Twitter.

Raffensperger also appeared to have a built-in advantage in 1) being a Republican in a state where (for the time being) Republican and conservative voters still outnumber Democratic and progressive voters (even if maybe apparently less so than before), and 2) being a Republican from the still-GOP hotbed North Atlanta outer suburbs and North Georgia.

Meanwhile, in addition to benefitting just simply from there appearing to be more Republicans participating in runoff voting than Democrats as well as from President Trump's endorsement of Raffensperger in the Secretary of State runoff race, PSC District 3 Republican candidate Chuck Eaton also appeared to get a big boost late from a surge in outside spending on advertising by pro-nuclear power groups on his behalf.

These contests might have been close enough and competitive enough to keep the Republican candidate from receiving the 50% + 1 required to win them without a runoff on November 6th.

But I always thought that the GOP candidates were most likely to win these runoff races just simply because Republicans continue to have an electoral advantage in statewide races in Georgia (even if maybe noticeably less so than during the period of pronounced GOP dominance from 2004-2016), and because Democrats still have not yet cultivated their growing coalition of voters to turnout on a consistent basis during times when there may be much less hype around statewide races... Like during runoff races where turnout tends to be dominated by conservative older white voters who pretty much vote exclusively Republican at this point in time.

[midgeorgiaman]

Not surprising. Runoffs typically skew older and whiter than the general population...in Georgia this means Republican.

Getting people excited for a governor race is far easier than a Secretary of State and PSC race. My guess is better than half of the electorate couldn't tell you what the Secretary of State and PSC do? Hard to get excited about something you don't understand.

[shpitz]

Even though all this voter fraud is pathetic, my wife and I enjoyed voting for a 2nd time, went to the Paulding Co. main complex, nice place they got there.

[DreamerD]

Ivoted but to be honest I almost didn't. I thought when I voted for governor and other candidates that I was done voting. I am curious as to why these two positions weren't present for us to vote on when we voted for governor and people to represent certain districts. I'm not saying they wouldn't have won but they wouldn't have won so easily perhaps.

[Gulch]

Originally Posted by DreamerD

Ivoted but to be honest I almost didn't. I thought when I voted for governor and other candidates that I was done voting. I am curious as to why these two positions weren't present for us to vote on when we voted for governor and people to represent certain districts. I'm not saying they wouldn't have won but they wouldn't have won so easily perhaps.

They were. In the general election back in November, the leading candidates for the SoS and PSC seats didn't receive 50.1%+ of the vote, hence the runoff.

[CaliDreaming01]

Originally Posted by midgeorgiaman

Not surprising. Runoffs typically skew older and whiter than the general population...in Georgia this means Republican.

Getting people excited for a governor race is far easier than a Secretary of State and PSC race. My guess is better than half of the electorate couldn't tell you what the Secretary of State and PSC do? Hard to get excited about something you don't understand.

Yup. I totally agree. It's understandable, but really sad that voters 65+ in age made up over 50% of the electorate. I'm not sure what could be done about it. Makes me wonder what the result would be if we able to vote via iPhone.

[bu2]

Originally Posted by CaliDreaming01

Yup. I totally agree. It's understandable, but really sad that voters 65+ in age made up over 50% of the electorate. I'm not sure what could be done about it. Makes me wonder what the result would be if we able to vote via iPhone.

If you don't understand a race, you shouldn't vote on it. I will often leave particular races blank (often judicial races). If people can't be bothered to go out and vote, that's not a problem for me.

[CaliDreaming01]

Originally Posted by bu2

If you don't understand a race, you shouldn't vote on it. I will often leave particular races blank (often judicial races). If people can't be bothered to go out and vote, that's not a problem for me.

I do the same and leave the races blank that I don't know about. But I'm pretty sure across the board, regardless of age, race or party, the vast majority of voters are just voting along straight partisan lines.

[midgeorgiaman]

Why the PSC is partisan is beyond me, but the result is straight party voting in most cases regardless of candidates hence all 5 members of the PSC are Republican. As a matter of fact, the PSC could be appointed by the legislature and it would be better. People generally pay attention to their state reps and senators....the PSC is a waste of an election in my opinion as few actually research candidates. We have too many down ballot races which lends itself to voter fatigue.

I spend a considerable amount of time researching candidates prior to each election....most people probably don't. The upside is my vote multiplies as most of my friends and family ask my opinion on these down ballot races because they know I know so I influence them to vote my way! :-)