The next Florida vs. Georgia matchup on the football field may still be more than six months away, but that doesn’t mean you can’t see how the states stack up when it comes to how they conduct their primaries in an election year.
Both states have some potentially blockbuster races this year, with Republican governors Ron DeSantis of Florida and Brian Kemp of Georgia facing term limits. The Republican and Democratic primaries for governor in both states feature several candidates, and in Florida’s case, the field won’t be fully set until qualifying week in June.
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Florida and Georgia also each have a U.S. Senate seat on the line this year. In Florida’s case, it’s a special election to fill the rest of Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s former Senate term. Republican Ashley Moody was appointed to the seat last year and is running to hold onto the position. The seat will again be on the ballot in 2028 for a full six-year term. In Georgia, Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff is running for re-election, seeking a second six-year term.
But with those similarities – there are some notable differences between how the elections will play out in the Sunshine State and the Peach State.
Open primaries vs. closed primaries
Florida is a closed primary state, and Georgia is an open primary state. That leads to differences in the voter registration process, as well as what happens when voters go to the polls.
In Florida, voters can choose to affiliate with a party when they register to vote, whether it’s the Republican Party, the Democratic Party, or one of the other political parties. Or, they can choose no party affiliation, which is the choice of about a quarter of Florida’s registered voters.
In order to vote in a given party’s primary in Florida, you must be affiliated with that party by the “book closing” date, about a month before election day. If you are not affiliated with a party, or you chose one of the other parties that does not have a primary slate of candidates, you’ll receive a non-partisan primary ballot. That can still give voters significant input, as races such as school board and judicial races are non-partisan and open to all voters. If there are only two candidates in one of these races, it will be decided in the primary, before the process even reaches the general election in November.
Florida also has an exception of sorts to the closed party primary rule, known as the universal primary contest. For races where all candidates are of the same party, and the primary winner would face no opposition in the general election, the primary is open to all voters, regardless of party affiliation. However, if there are any other candidates, including no party affiliation candidates, or even a write-in candidate, the primary remains closed to voters of just that one party.
On the other hand, Georgia is an open primary state, meaning voters do not register with a specific party. When primary day arrives, they can choose a Democratic ballot, a Republican ballot, or a non-partisan ballot. Voters can choose a different party ballot from one primary to the next.
However, there is a catch to making that choice. If a primary goes to a runoff (more on that in a moment), a voter can’t switch from one party ballot in the primary to the other party’s ballot in the runoff. But, if a voter didn’t vote in the primary, they are open to their choice of ballot in any resulting runoff election.
Runoffs vs. no runoffs
In Florida’s party primaries, the candidate who gets the most votes wins the primary, and advances to the general election. But it wasn’t always that way. Through the 2000 election year, Florida held a “second primary,” which was essentially a runoff. But the state scrapped the second primary in 2002 and 2004 before a 2005 law abolished it entirely. In a non-partisan race appearing on the primary ballot, a candidate must still get more than 50 percent of the vote to win it outright. Otherwise, the top two candidates advance to the general election.
In Georgia, most races, whether in the primary election or the general election, require a candidate to get more than half the vote in order to win. That means a crowded primary field will likely cause a race to go to a primary runoff. Right now, with Georgia holding its primary in May, the primary runoff is held in June.
Georgia’s runoff rule also applies to the general election and can come into play if there is a third candidate on the ballot, whether they are an unaffiliated or third-party candidate. In recent years, there have been runoffs in several high-profile statewide races.
In the 2020 election, two U.S. Senate races required runoffs to be decided. As Republican incumbent David Perdue was facing Democratic challenger Jon Ossoff, with Libertarian Shane Hazel on the ballot as well, nobody got more than 50 percent of the vote. Though Perdue led Ossoff in November, Ossoff came back to win the runoff on Jan. 5, 2021. The other Senate race that year, a special election, initially featured 20 candidates. The top two vote-getters in November, Democrat Raphael Warnock and incumbent Republican Kelly Loeffler, advanced to the January runoff, where Warnock won the seat.
A similar scenario played out two years later, as Warnock sought a full six-year term. In the November election, facing Republican Herschel Walker and Libertarian Chase Oliver, Warnock finished ahead of Walker, but still short of 50%. A month later, facing Walker alone, Warnock prevailed and won re-election.
Dates to remember
Georgia primary: May 19
- Registration deadline: April 20
- Early in-person voting begins: April 27
- Last day to submit an absentee ballot application: May 8
Georgia primary runoff (if needed): June 16
- Registration deadline: May 18
- Last day to submit an absentee ballot application: June 5
- Early in-person voting begins: June 8
Florida primary: August 18
- Deadline to register or change party affiliation: July 20
- Deadline to request that ballot be mailed: August 6
- Early voting: August 8-15 (mandatory period, some counties may have additional days)
General election: November 3
- Registration deadline, Florida & Georgia: October 5
- Early in-person voting begins, Georgia: October 13
- Deadline to request that ballot be mailed, Florida: October 22
- Last day to submit an absentee ballot application, Georgia: October 23
- Early voting, Florida: October 24-31 (mandatory period, some counties may have additional days)
Georgia general election runoff (if needed): December 1
- Registration deadline: November 2
- Last day to submit absentee ballot application: November 20
- Early in-person voting begins: November 23
In the coming weeks & months, News4JAX will be compiling information about the candidates on your ballot, in our Voter’s Guide. Stay tuned for that valuable information aimed at helping you make your choice on election day.