The Georgia Senate Ethics Committee advanced a bill Tuesday that would ban election officials in Georgia from adopting an instant runoff system that allows voters to rank candidates by preference to determine the outcome of elections.
This process will decide two outstanding congressional races: Republican Lisa Murkowski's seat in the Senate and Democrat Mary Peltola's seat in the House.
The measure establishes open primary elections and then ranked-choice voting. But because it amends the state constitution, voters will need to approve it again in 2024 for it to take effect.
City officials admitted they failed to remove 135,000 test ballots from the election management system before starting to count the real votes from Election Day and early voting, skewing the results.
The method, in which voters are asked to rank candidates, has gained traction as a way to more accurately reflect the will of the majority. But detractors warn there are potential downsides, too.
The contest between Republican Sen. Susan Collins and her Democratic challenger, Maine House Speaker Sara Gideon, could determine control of the U.S. Senate.
