# Georgia senate runoff elections. Let’s debate and make predictions **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [November 7, 2020, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/georgia-senate-runoff-elections-let-s-debate-and-make-predictions/925015 "2020-11-07T23:16:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Lavender\_Pebble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lavender_pebble/32/6290_2.png) [@Lavender\_Pebble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lavender_Pebble)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2020, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/georgia-senate-runoff-elections-let-s-debate-and-make-predictions/925015/61 "2020-11-23T20:32:53Z")
I live in Georgia and I’m getting inundated with pro-Republican ads and mailers for the Senate race. I don’t think the Democrats have a chance of pulling it off - even with near-record turnout in the main election, it was still too close, and on a runoff, more people than not will stay home. I think to win the Republicans would have to stay home AND the democrats will have to maintain the primary turnout, which just isn’t going to happen. I’m used to my vote never mattering though on any level, so it was nice to have it count for a change. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2020, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/georgia-senate-runoff-elections-let-s-debate-and-make-predictions/925015/62 "2020-11-23T20:46:43Z")
My apologies, **What Exit**. The site for which I provided a link isn’t just for donations, but for info as well, but I take your point. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2020, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/georgia-senate-runoff-elections-let-s-debate-and-make-predictions/925015/63 "2020-11-24T12:52:32Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Ten million more Americans like, or even love, what Trump did for 4 years, than in 2016. This is America. 2020 isn’t that terribly different than 1920 or even 1820. Some Americans wanted to own slaves. Some Americans wanted to lynch black people. And now some Americans want to hurt migrant children and “own the libs”. There’s not much the Democrats can do about that except try and outvote them - which is what we did this time. We set records, even - the highest turnout in a hundred years. Maybe it’s a tough truth, but that’s the truth. Well said. The pocket of deplorable Americans is remarkably stable over the decades and centuries. Sometimes they come out to vote in greater numbers than the non-deplorables, and sometimes they don’t, but their existence is a perennial fixture. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2020, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/georgia-senate-runoff-elections-let-s-debate-and-make-predictions/925015/64 "2020-11-24T14:00:08Z")
> **[Why the GOP is so rattled by Rev. Warnock's faith-based Georgia Senate...](https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/23/opinions/reverend-warnock-religious-left-graves-fitzsimmons/index.html)** > > Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons writes that Rev. Raphael Warnock's use of faith in his campaign for one of Georgia's US Senate seats is evidence that Democrats have a claim to religious and moral arguments, and they shouldn't be afraid to use them. ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2020, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/georgia-senate-runoff-elections-let-s-debate-and-make-predictions/925015/65 "2020-11-24T15:05:08Z")
Are write in votes allowed in the runoff? I thought that the whole point of the runoff was that there are only two candidates on the ballot so that one candidate could get over 50%. Roger Stone, however, is reportedly encouraging people to write in Donald Trump. If this is allowed, what happens if none of the candidates clear 50%? > **[Roger Stone-Tied Group Claims Dems Are Framing Them as Republican Party...](https://www.thedailybeast.com/roger-stone-tied-group-threatens-gop-if-trump-goes-down-so-does-your-senate-majority)** > > The group appeared to be encouraging Trump backers to either not vote in the GA runoffs or write in the president’s name. They now say it’s a lie. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2020, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/georgia-senate-runoff-elections-let-s-debate-and-make-predictions/925015/66 "2020-11-24T15:14:50Z")
> [@Lavender\_Pebble](#): > > I live in Georgia and I’m getting inundated with pro-Republican ads and mailers for the Senate race. I don’t think the Democrats have a chance of pulling it off - even with near-record turnout in the main election, it was still too close, and on a runoff, more people than not will stay home. I think to win the Republicans would have to stay home AND the democrats will have to maintain the primary turnout, which just isn’t going to happen. > > I’m used to my vote never mattering though on any level, so it was nice to have it count for a change. Same. I’m shocked the Georgia flipped blue, but not enough to convince my defensive-pessimistic PTSD that a repeat performance is in the cards. I think the “write-in Trump for Senate” movement is just some astroturfed Twitter crap that won’t manifest in any appreciable way. My predictions are narrow defeat for Ossoff, narrower defeat for Warnock. ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2020, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/georgia-senate-runoff-elections-let-s-debate-and-make-predictions/925015/67 "2020-11-24T15:21:17Z")
> [@FlikTheBlue](#): > > Are write in votes allowed in the runoff? According to my reading of the Georgia elections statute, write-in votes are _not_ allowed in the runoff. It does not surprise me at all that Stone was not aware of this. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2020, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/georgia-senate-runoff-elections-let-s-debate-and-make-predictions/925015/68 "2020-11-24T18:49:03Z")
Ohpleaseohpleaseohpleaseohplease, let this be so and work beyond Stones wildest imagination. 😈 ---
**Author:** ![DWMarch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwmarch/32/1010_2.png) [@DWMarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DWMarch)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2020, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/georgia-senate-runoff-elections-let-s-debate-and-make-predictions/925015/69 "2020-11-24T20:57:15Z")
If **all** the write in votes are for Trump would that make him the Senator from Georgia? Because that would be kind of hilarious. ---
**Author:** ![Nayna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ebca7d/32.png) [@Nayna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nayna)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2020, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/georgia-senate-runoff-elections-let-s-debate-and-make-predictions/925015/70 "2020-11-25T04:50:03Z")
Write-in votes aren’t allowed, and also, in this runoff, the person who gets the majority of votes wins - nobody has to clear 50%. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2020, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/georgia-senate-runoff-elections-let-s-debate-and-make-predictions/925015/71 "2020-11-25T05:04:33Z")
Doesn’t a majority, by definition, clear 50%, and therefore it is something a candidate needs to do in this runoff? ---
**Author:** ![Malden\_Capell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malden_capell/32/5274_2.png) [@Malden\_Capell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malden_Capell)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2020, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/georgia-senate-runoff-elections-let-s-debate-and-make-predictions/925015/72 "2020-11-25T06:16:11Z")
Majority can mean simply more votes than others (a plurality) or more votes than others _combined_ (50%+1). ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2020, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/georgia-senate-runoff-elections-let-s-debate-and-make-predictions/925015/73 "2020-11-25T15:19:06Z")
> [@Nayna](#): > > Write-in votes aren’t allowed I wonder what the people who think they’re going to write in Trump will do when they get there and discover that they can’t? Pity the poor pollworkers in Georgia. (Actually, I already do. Count the votes not once, not twice, but three times, and with everybody yelling at you?) ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2020, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/georgia-senate-runoff-elections-let-s-debate-and-make-predictions/925015/74 "2020-11-25T17:46:14Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > I wonder what the people who think they’re going to write in Trump will do when they get there and discover that they can’t? Well, they can still write “Trump” on their ballot. But then I’m assuming paper ballots with a pencil. If it’s a voting machine with no option for a write in, I suppose they can just wipe a booger on the machine and leave. This would be symbolic. ---
**Author:** ![Nayna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ebca7d/32.png) [@Nayna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nayna)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2020, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/georgia-senate-runoff-elections-let-s-debate-and-make-predictions/925015/75 "2020-11-25T20:35:46Z")
There won’t be a line for a write-in on the paper ballots, but yeah, I guess they could cross out the other names and write it in? ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2020, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/georgia-senate-runoff-elections-let-s-debate-and-make-predictions/925015/76 "2020-11-25T20:41:05Z")
Maybe Arizona can ship all of those Sharpies that they used to disqualify tens of thousands of legitimate Trump votes to Georgia. . . ---
**Author:** ![Nayna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ebca7d/32.png) [@Nayna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nayna)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2020, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/georgia-senate-runoff-elections-let-s-debate-and-make-predictions/925015/77 "2020-11-25T20:41:39Z")
Sorry, I always confuse plurality and majority. The person with the higher number/percentage of votes wins. I wonder - with only two candidates, is the result necessarily 100%? ---
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2020, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/georgia-senate-runoff-elections-let-s-debate-and-make-predictions/925015/78 "2020-11-25T22:23:48Z")
> [@Malden\_Capell](#): > > Majority can mean simply more votes than others (a plurality) or more votes than others _combined_ (50%+1). When there’s only 2 people getting votes, plurality = majority. ---
**Author:** ![ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chockfullofheadygoodness/32/511_2.png) [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2020, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/georgia-senate-runoff-elections-let-s-debate-and-make-predictions/925015/79 "2020-11-25T23:43:31Z")
> [@Nayna](#): > > I wonder - with only two candidates, is the result necessarily 100%? If people vote in one race but not the other, it could be less than 100%, depending on how the tabulating software determines percentage. Votes for X/Total votes in the race would be 100% but Votes for X/Total number of ballots could be less. Or if someone does something goofy like submit a blank ballot, although the tabulating machine might kick that out as an error. ---
**Author:** ![Boycott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boycott/32/6741_2.png) [@Boycott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boycott)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2020, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/georgia-senate-runoff-elections-let-s-debate-and-make-predictions/925015/80 "2020-11-26T01:49:20Z")
I read a piece a week ago about how Susan Collins pulled off an upset by winning another term comfortably when the votes were counted despite Biden winning Maine by almost double digits, the polls showing her race neck and neck, and that the Trump base of the republican party don’t even like her. One of the conclusions based on interviews with residents was they didn’t like the barrage of Sara Gideon (her democratic opponent) volunteers from other states phone banking and as one resident put it “interfering” in a local election by telling the people of Maine who best represents Maine. Collins has been senator for twenty years so the majority of local voters had a connection to her. With all eyes on Georgia for the determination of the senate majority I wonder if that aspect of out of state involvement will be counterproductive. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/georgia-senate-runoff-elections-let-s-debate-and-make-predictions/925015.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/georgia-senate-runoff-elections-let-s-debate-and-make-predictions/925015.md?page=5)