A runoff election will be held Dec. 2 to decide the Polk School District Board of Education, District 9 race.

The runoff will be between Democrat Jerry Elrod Baldwin and independent Chuck Thaxton.

A third candidate, Frank Plant (Republican) actually was the second-place finisher in the race. However, Plant officially withdrew his name Thursday, Polk County Election Superintendent Susan Williams confirmed today.

The three-way race was a very tight one. Baldwin was the biggest vote getter, but only by a margin of 11 votes. The final tally was: Baldwin, 622; Plant, 611; and Thaxton, 606.

Williams reminds that only voters who live within District 9 will be able to participate in this runoff. Voters are eligible to vote in the runoff even if they did not vote in the Nov. 4 General Election -- provided they were a registered to vote by the Oct. 6 deadline.

Williams adds that her office was still waiting a determination Friday regarding the United States Senate race, which appeared headed for a runoff between incumbent Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R) and challenger Jim Martin (D).

With the vote count thus far, Chambliss is still short of the 50 percent plus one vote needed to avoid a runoff. However, Fulton County was still counting early and absentee ballots this morning.

Also on the ballot for the Dec. 2 runoff election will be a non-partisan Court of Appeals race. There were seven names on the ballot for the General Election.

The leading candidate was Atlanta attorney Sara Doyle, with 22.5 percent of the vote (618,007 out of 2,742,295.

Joining Doyle in the runoff will be Mike Sheffield, a Lawrenceville lawyer, who finished with 20.9 percent (572,344 votes).

There was no incumbent in this race. The vacancy was created by the retirement of Judge John H. Ruffin Jr.

The seven candidates were Doyle, Sheffield, Lawrenceville lawyer Tamela Adkins, Atlanta lawyer Bruce Edenfield, Douglasville lawyer Perry McGuire, Decatur lawyer Christopher McFadden, and state Sen. Michael Meyer von Bremen of Albany.

Doyle, 40, is with the law firm Holland & Knight. Sheffield, 58, is a criminal defense attorney.

The busy 12-member court, which sits one rung below the Georgia Supreme Court, handles both criminal and civil appeals.