Early voting ends today in low-turnout Georgia primary runoffs

The last day of early voting for Georgia’s primary runoffs is Friday before next week’s election day, featuring close contests for races including Congress and the General Assembly.

Voters will decide which candidates advance to the general election in November. In some cases, the runoffs will determine the winner in races where there’s no candidate from the other party.

With light turnout so far, each vote carries more weight in deciding representation at the federal, state and local levels.

Georgia requires runoffs in races where no candidate received more than 50% of votes in the original primary last month. Voters can participate in the partisan runoff only for the same party they chose during last month’s primary, or they can choose to only vote for nonpartisan offices such as judges.

Through Thursday, over 98,000 Georgians had already voted in advance of election day, according to state election data. During last month’s primary, total turnout reached 1.27 million voters.

Here’s a look at some of the most closely watched runoff races:

• A Republican contest for the 3rd Congressional District in west Georgia between Brian Jack, a former aide to Donald Trump, and Mike Dugan, a former majority leader in the state Senate.
• Eight runoffs for seats in the General Assembly, including metro Atlanta races to replace retiring Democratic state Sens. Gloria Butler, Valencia Seay and Horacena Tate. In South Georgia, Republican state Rep. Steven Sainz faces a challenge from Glenn Cook, a veteran and retired pilot.
• Two Democratic county commissioners facing off to become DeKalb County’s next CEO, Lorraine Cochran-Johnson and Larry Johnson.