Why is Georgia’s Senate election so important in 2020?
Our government elections have been running since the start of this nation. From presidential elections to state elections, they are all pretty important and can really change how people live in certain places. However, why is this year’s Georgia Senate election so important?
How do Congressional elections work?
Congressional elections happen every two years. Voters choose one-third of all senators and every official in the House of Representatives. Let’s focus on senate elections. Senators are divided into three classes based upon which third, the senator got elected in. In the elections, a senator must win by getting the majority of votes from their state.
States in the south have a election system that differs from it’s fellow states. This is where Georgia comes in. During the height of segregation, black people were not given a lot of power. As they were the minority of Georgia, they quickly became a supposed inferior class of citizens. If one black person ran for office against multiple white men then the black person would have a better chance at winning the election. This made multiple white people in Georgia angry, which lead to the State to create a runoff election system in 1962 which was originally proposed by Denmark Groover.
A runoff election is when the State takes two of the highest voted candidates out of the primary election and gives them the chance to go head to head. This at that time made sense, as through a white man’s perspective, it gave one white man a chance to go head to head with just one black person. Due to the black group being a minority in Georgia, this usually ended with the population voting for the white person. The Supreme Court has tried to intervene in this, however hasn’t found any success. This system has had a messy past, and from what we are seeing now, might have a messy future as it deals against the Department of Justice.
Current Senate Position
Each state get’s two Senators. Currently the Republicans in the Senate have the majority(50 seats filled), making it hard for someone like Joe Biden, who is Democrat(currently at 48 seats filled) to pass bills into laws. If the Democrats can get the majority of the Senate, then we might be able to see important bills being passed on topics like Clean Energy and Covid-19.
Conclusion
The government is always changing at each level of government. These changes can heavily change the way we live. Currently we are fighting hard against the coronavirus, and if we can get some good leaders in office, we could gradually overcome the fight against this deadly disease.