Republican candidates for Alabama House District 12, Cindy Myrex, left, looks over results on Tuesday, July 15, at the Cullman County Courthouse, and Clint Hollingsworth, right, awaits the results of a provisional ballot count at the Cullman County Courthouse on Tuesday, July 22.

Republican candidates Cindy Myrex and Clint Hollingsworth are officially heading into a runoff election to decide the nominee for the Alabama House District 12 special election.

Election night ended with a sense of uncertainty for the candidates last week when Myrex received just under the 50 percent threshold needed to avoid a runoff.

Roughly 20 provisional ballots created a small window of opportunity for Myrex to bridge the gap. However, that window was closed on Tuesday, July 22, when the final tally was conducted by Cullman County Probate Judge Tammy Brown.

Debbie Gingrich with the Cullman County Board of Registrars said only nine of the remaining ballots had been deemed valid, all of which came from precincts inside Cullman City limits — seven from the Cullman Office Building and two from the Donald E. Green Senior Center.

Gingrich said the majority of the remaining provisional ballots had been rejected due to confusion among voters within House District 11 attempting to vote at their normal polling location.

Hollingsworth received six additional votes, bringing his total to 1,854. Myrex received three additional votes for a final total of 2,132. Neither of the remaining candidates, Heather Doyle and Don McWhorter, received a provisional vote.

With the new totals, Myrex fell just 11 votes short of a majority and will face Hollingsworth once again on Tuesday, Aug. 12.

The winner of the runoff election will then face Democratic candidate Matthew Glover in a general election on Tuesday, Oct. 12.