ATLANTA — Georgians will vote again for U.S. Senate, to settle the race between incumbent Democrat Sen. Raphael Warnock and Republican challenger Herschel Walker after neither candidate cleared the 50% + 1 vote majority threshold on Election Day.
The day of the runoff itself is set for Dec. 6 - a four-week timeline that's notably tighter than the state had in the 2021 runoffs that originally put Warnock and fellow Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff into office to begin with.
That means condensed deadlines for several things, from absentee ballot requests to an early voting period that will last only the week before the date of the runoff.
Here's an overview of the key dates in the process, arranged by the various voting procedures voters can choose, and what they mean:
Georgia Senate runoff dates and deadlines timeline
Pre-runoff timeline
- Nov. 15: Counties must certify their Nov. 8 election results by this day.
- Nov. 16: The state will randomly determine which batches of ballots are to be reviewed in a risk-limiting audit mandated by Georgia law.
- Nov. 17: Counties will begin a risk-limiting audit of the Georgia election for secretary of state.
- Nov. 18: State officials are asking counties to aim to complete their audits by in one day, finishing by Friday the 18th.
- Nov. 25: The Georgia Secretary of State's Office must certify the statewide Nov. 8 results by this day.
For voting early in person
- Nov. 27: This day, a Sunday, would be the earliest day that early in-person voting could begin in any county, according to state officials. Whether there is early in-person voting on this day will be a county-by-county decision, on whether they want to offer weekend early voting. No early voting occurs the weekend directly before the runoff day (which will be the weekend of Dec. 3-4).
- Nov. 28: All Georgia counties will begin early in-person voting on this Monday.
- Dec. 2: Early in-person voting will conclude on this Friday after running one week.
Editor's note: The Secretary of State's Office previously said Nov. 26, a Saturday, would be the earliest advance in-person voting could begin. However, state officials said after looking closer at Georgia's law, due to the Saturday's proximity to a state holiday and to Thanksgiving, this is no longer the case.
For voting by absentee:
- Now: You can currently request an absentee ballot. (click this link for a printable version of the request form or visit the Secretary of State's online request portal here.)
- Nov. 28: All request applications must be received by this time. Make sure you mail the request well in advance of this day so that you can be confident your election office will receive it in time.
- Dec. 6: Absentee ballots must be received by the close of polls on the day of runoff voting. You can use a drop box to ensure it is received on time or make sure to mail it to your election office several days in advance so you can be sure it gets there on time.
For voting in person on the day of the runoff
- Dec. 6: This will be Election Day 2 in Georgia. This is really all you need to know if you plan to vote on the runoff day - show up at your polling precinct between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. and cast your vote for Senate.