Unofficial Vote Count Complete, Runoff Looms for House Race
With 100 percent of votes unofficially tallied, Scot Turner leads overall, followed by Brian Laurens and Natalie Bergeron.
Update (9:55 p.m.): According to the Secretary of State's website, all votes for the House District 21 race have been tallied with no candidate earning a 50 percent plus one majority.
Scot Turner leads the race with 1,496 votes, or 46.39 percent of the electorate. Brian Laurens is in second place with 971 votes, or 30.11 percent. Laurens and Turner will face each other in a runoff election to determine the House District 21 representative on Feb. 5.
Update (9:10 p.m.): Scot Turner's lead in the House District 21 race has widened to a 46.39 percent margin, with 1,496 votes out of a total of 3,225 votes cast. Turner needs 50 percent plus one to avoid a runoff and become the representative for State House District 21. Updated vote totals can be found at the bottom of the article.
Original Story: With polls closing at 7 p.m., the House District 21 race has seen four candidates share 2,384 votes with Holly Springs resident and Canton Tea Party Patriots member Scot Turner earning 1,083 votes, or 45.43 percent of the vote total.
Elections to the House of Representatives are a majority election: in order for a candidate to be elected, he or she must earn 50 percent of the votes plus one extra vote to take office.
If the vote tally holds, Turner and Brian Laurens will be subject to a Feb. 5 runoff to determine who will replace Sean Jerguson as the State House Representative for District 21. Jerguson resigned his House seat to battle Brandon Beach for the Senate District 21 seat vacated by Chip Rogers in December.
Here are the vote totals so far, courtesty of the Georgia Secretary of State's office. All results are currently unofficial.
| NAME | VOTE TOTAL | PERCENT OF TOTAL |
| Natalie Bergeron (D) | 691 | 21.43 |
| Brian Laurens (R) | 971 | 30.11 |
| Kenneth A. Mimbs | 67 | 2.08 |
| Scot Turner | 1,496 | 46.39 |
1 of 1 counties reporting.
D.B. McCoy
11:55 pm on Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Looks like its going to be a runoff.
Greg Harpe
1:52 pm on Friday, January 11, 2013
Issue # 1: I know it's state law, but with this much of a gap, do we seriously need a runoff? We should take a look at tweaking the law. Maybe if you have the most votes and have 10% or more of a lead, you're declared the winner?
Issue # 2: Bergeron(D) was closer to Laurens(R) than he was to Turner. Cherokee is among the reddest, if not THE most red county in the state. Glad to say I don't like Brian's chances.