A runoff appears to be in the cards for two candidates vying to be the Democratic choice in the race for a seat in the United States Senate.
Jim Martin and Vernon Jones will face off August 5 in a run off election. In Bulloch County, with 17 of 18 precincts reporting, Martin edged Jones out with 38.82 percent of the vote. Jones garnered 31.18 percent of the vote, while challenger Dale Cardwell took 6.11 percent and Rand Knight took 6.39 percent.
Josh Lanier, a Statesboro native, pulled 17.5 percent of the vote, and said Tuesday night he was not surprised with the turnout.
He ran for the seat mainly to make a point, he said.
"It turned out the way we predicted," he said. His campaign was not so much to win as to "expose and show what the effect of money is — by not taking any."
On his Web site www.joshlanier.com, he said " I spent 35 years of my life working in Washington, and I know our political system is broken. That's why I'm in this race. That's why I've never held a fundraiser and never accepted a contribution over $100. "
And the only campaign sign in the entire state that asked voters to support Lanier was on the local French Quarter Cafe marquee, he said.
Spending time with a fellow candidate in Atlanta, Lanier said he never sent out mailers or mass phone calls either. "That is the whole point of my campaign."
He said the government is run by "a handful of special interest money folks that basically control the issues, and we have to change that ... I've seen the system and I know how broken it is."
As the last-minute voters straggled in at the Kiwanis Fairgrounds precinct Tuesday evening, most voters questioned said they were Republican and did not vote in the U.S. Senate Democratic Primary. A number of those who did declined to comment, but Dorsey Baldwin said she voted for Jones because, " I've been doing some research online and felt I agreed with things he stood for."
Ray and Wendy Weinberger weren't quite sure who they were going to choose before they entered the polling place, but Ray Weinberger said he was leaning toward Lanier.
Poll manager Mary Ann Dickey said turnout was steady, if slow. "I've been pleased with it," she said. "It was a decent turnout."
"There were more than I figured there would be," said poll worker Donna Cain.
As the polls closed and the doors were locked, three cars pulled into the parking lot, latecomers hoping to vote, but arrived after the deadline.
Bulloch County Probate Judge Lee Deloach said turnout county wide was about 10 to 11 percent. Only provisional votes were not counted and will be counted within 48 hours, he said.
Jim Martin and Vernon Jones will face off August 5 in a run off election. In Bulloch County, with 17 of 18 precincts reporting, Martin edged Jones out with 38.82 percent of the vote. Jones garnered 31.18 percent of the vote, while challenger Dale Cardwell took 6.11 percent and Rand Knight took 6.39 percent.
Josh Lanier, a Statesboro native, pulled 17.5 percent of the vote, and said Tuesday night he was not surprised with the turnout.
He ran for the seat mainly to make a point, he said.
"It turned out the way we predicted," he said. His campaign was not so much to win as to "expose and show what the effect of money is — by not taking any."
On his Web site www.joshlanier.com, he said " I spent 35 years of my life working in Washington, and I know our political system is broken. That's why I'm in this race. That's why I've never held a fundraiser and never accepted a contribution over $100. "
And the only campaign sign in the entire state that asked voters to support Lanier was on the local French Quarter Cafe marquee, he said.
Spending time with a fellow candidate in Atlanta, Lanier said he never sent out mailers or mass phone calls either. "That is the whole point of my campaign."
He said the government is run by "a handful of special interest money folks that basically control the issues, and we have to change that ... I've seen the system and I know how broken it is."
As the last-minute voters straggled in at the Kiwanis Fairgrounds precinct Tuesday evening, most voters questioned said they were Republican and did not vote in the U.S. Senate Democratic Primary. A number of those who did declined to comment, but Dorsey Baldwin said she voted for Jones because, " I've been doing some research online and felt I agreed with things he stood for."
Ray and Wendy Weinberger weren't quite sure who they were going to choose before they entered the polling place, but Ray Weinberger said he was leaning toward Lanier.
Poll manager Mary Ann Dickey said turnout was steady, if slow. "I've been pleased with it," she said. "It was a decent turnout."
"There were more than I figured there would be," said poll worker Donna Cain.
As the polls closed and the doors were locked, three cars pulled into the parking lot, latecomers hoping to vote, but arrived after the deadline.
Bulloch County Probate Judge Lee Deloach said turnout county wide was about 10 to 11 percent. Only provisional votes were not counted and will be counted within 48 hours, he said.