How to Get Involved in the Georgia Senate Runoff Races

Now that the 2020 United States Presidential Election has been called for Vice President Joe Biden, all eyes are on Georgia. The historically red state is likely to flip blue in the presidential race (it’s still “too close to call” per the Associated Press) largely due to the work of Stacey Abrams and other Black women in the state—and *both* of the hotly contested Senate races are headed to a runoff.

One, a special election, will be between Republican Kelly Loeffler, who was appointed to the seat in 2019, and Democrat Rev. Raphael Warnock. The other will be between Republican incumbent David Perdue and Democrat Jon Osoff, who rose to national fame while running in a special election for a Congressional seat in 2017.

In both of these races, neither candidate won 50 percent of the votes, which is required under Georgia law, so… to a runoff we go!

Side note: Historically, runoff elections have deep roots in racism and were specifically created to suppress Black political power by splitting plurality. This is literally happening in one of these races since Rev. Warnock, who is Black, won more votes than both Sen. Loeffler and Republican Rep. Doug Collins, who was also in the race.

But the stakes for the Georgia runoff election are higher than most. These two seats will decide which party has control over the Senate come January. If Warnock and Ossoff lose, Biden will likely have a difficult time carrying out his agenda with a Republican-controlled Senate.

The runoff is scheduled for Jan. 5, 2021 and people all around the country are looking for ways to get involved in these heated races. Ahead, a few ways to channel your post-presidential election political fervor.

If you’re a Georgia voter:

All Georgia voters must be registered to participate by Dec. 7. And, hey, heads up, you can still register if you weren’t registered for the Nov. 3 election and if you aren’t 18 yet but will be by Jan. 5. (I see you, 17.5-year-olds!) Fill out all your forms here, and if you’re not sure if you’re registered, check your status now.

You can request an absentee ballot right here and you can start submitting them as early as Nov. 18.

And if you want to vote IRL, you can do so starting on Dec. 14 as part of early voting, or on Jan. 5.

If you’re super passionate about one (or two!) candidates, hit up their campaign websites and volunteer to knock on doors IRL—and safely!—in your community. Get out the vote initiatives will be hugely importnat and your face-to-face interactions can mean a lot. You can also sign up to be a poll watcher or to monitor ballot processing here.

One more way: Give the folks who worked the Nov. 3 polls a break and sign up to be an election worker for the runoff. Find all that info here.

If you live out of state but want to volunteer:

Put your general election phone and text banking skills to use to help folks register to vote and spread the word about the runoffs from the comfort of your own couch. Work with Fair Fight Action by texting FAIR to 70700, or Flip the West’s phone banking and post-card writing session, or through the Democratic Volunteer Center’s phone and text banking programs.

PSA: Georgia has a long and rampant history of voter suppression and any help in getting voters to get their ballots in will go a long way. In local elections like state senate, winners can be decided by a handful of votes.

If you’re looking to send a bunch of $$$ somewhere:

Obv you can donate directly to campaigns:

But you can also help voter protection and human rights organizations that directly impact Georgia. Check these out:

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