Two states that could drag out election results past November

In just two weeks, the constant attack ads, robo-calls and campaign postcards in voters’ mailboxes will come to a sudden, blissful end, except in Georgia and Louisiana. The U.S. Senate races in those states have the potential to go on past the first Tuesday in November and might be in play into December or even January.

Georgia and Louisiana employ a runoff system. If no candidate captures at least 50 percent of the vote, the top two vote-getters meet in a final election.

In Louisiana, Election Day is a nonpartisan blanket primary. In most states, each party nominates a candidate to run in the general election. An independent in the race might make things interesting, but the nomination process usually narrows down the general election. That’s not the case in Louisiana, where it’s a free-for-all, and multiple candidates from each party can be on the same ballot. This year, there is more than one Republicanon the ballot. If Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu is not one of the top two vote-getters, there could be a runoff election in which the incumbent isn’t even on the ballot, though polls indicate that is unlikely. If neither Landrieu nor the Republican frontrunner, Rep. Bill Cassidy, top 50 percent of the votes, those two will meet in a runoff Dec. 6. Right now, the polls have Cassidy up by 5 points in a head-to-head contest against Landrieu.

A runoff election in Georgia would not occur until Jan. 6 if neither Democrat Michelle Nunn or Republican David Purdue is able to get more than 50 percent of the vote in November.That race is virtually tied, to the surprise of some Republicans. Nunn’s last name has a lot of credibility in Georgia. Her father, Sam Nunn, represented the state in the U.S. Senate for 24 years. So far, she’s been successful in diffusing GOP attempts to tie her to President Barack Obama, and she has some real appeal for moderate Georgia voters.

The winner of that contest will fill the seat of retiring Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss. Even if Purdue can’t regain his edge over the next couple of weeks, Georgia’s runoff system could be his saving grace, especiallyif control of the Senate comes down to Georgia. If that’s the case, the runoff election becomes less about the candidates and more about which party Georgia voters want in control of the Senate. In a red state, that would certainly favor Purdue.

Listen to Kent Covington and Nick Eicher discuss the unusual Senate races in Georgia and Louisiana on The World and Everything in It: