Chuck Patterson and Meredith Peters will meet in a runoff for Covington County revenue commissioner on July 15.

Patterson led Peters by only 23 votes, collecting 34.46 of the votes cast in the race, while Peters got 34.14 percent.

“I want to say thank you to all my family and friends for the support they’ve given me,” said Patterson, adding that he hoped to get a good night’s sleep and get back to campaigning.

Patterson, whose career has been in accounting and business management, is an Opp native.

Peters, and Andalusia attorney, said she has enjoyed getting to know so many people while campaigning for office.

“I would like to thank all of my supporters who came out and exercised the right to vote,” she said. “I met tons of people across the county and I was happy they let me get to know them.”

“I want to thank everybody who has contributed money, effort, time and prayers,” Peters said. “I couldn’t have done this without them. My family has always been there for me and supported me in whatever I wanted to do, ever since I was a little girl hiding behind my mama’s skirts because I was so shy.”

Peters said she plans to get back to work campaigning today.

Gwen Kelley, who ran third in the race with 12.56 percent of the vote, also expressed her appreciation for her supporters.

“I appreciate the clean campaigns that have been run,” she said. “This was a great experience, and I have connected with a lot of old friends, many of whom I had not seen in a long time. I appreciate every one of them.”

Lorene McCart got 12.35 percent of the vote.

“I just want to say how much I appreciate the people voting for me,” McCart said. “It means the world to me. I’ll always remember meeting everyone and I’ve enjoyed it. I’ll never regret it.”

Cindy Cook ran last in the race with 6.47 percent of the votes cast.