Americans wearied by mid-term elections may suppose that November 4th, polling day, will bring blessed relief. Not so fast. With a Republican takeover of the Senate likely but not in the bag, one grisly scenario is that America will have to wait for a December 6th run-off election in Louisiana. Or, even worse, a run-off in Georgia on January 6th, after the new Congress is due to convene. Run-offs-extra elections triggered when no candidate scoops more than 50% of the vote-spread across the South after the Civil War, to stop blacks and Republicans from benefiting from squabbles between different white factions, and to unite votes behind a single, white Democratic candidate. Today several southern states still use them for party primaries. Georgia uses them for general elections, too. Polls suggest that a Libertarian may grab enough Georgia voters to deny an outright majority to either Michelle Nunn, the Democrats' Senate candidate, or David Perdue, the Republican. In Louisiana, unless one candidate wins a majority on general-election day, the top two candidates meet for a run-off.
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