Locals will head back to the polls in Opp, Red Level and Gantt to choose mayors in their respective communities in an Oct. 9 runoff election, while two candidates are waiting on provisional ballot results to solidify their Tuesday night win.

Under Alabama law, a candidate must receive 50 percent of the vote plus one vote.

Sammy Glover with the county board of registrars said Wednesday officials have sought direction from the Secretary of State’s office on how to properly handle the 72 provisional ballots cast countywide on Election Day. Of those ballots, 64 were from the Andalusia race, while the remaining eight were from the Florala district 1 race.

In Florala, the incumbent Hazel Lee received 46 votes to challenger Connie Sue Buckely’s 44 votes. The eight provisional ballots could change the outcome of this seat, City Clerk Kathy Rathel said.

The only race in Andalusia that could be affected by the provisional votes is the district 3 race between the incumbent, Hazel Griffin, and Andy Alexander. Griffin received 147 votes, or 54 percent, to Alexander’s 124 votes, or 46 percent.

Glover said Wednesday those provisional ballots are currently in hand at the board of registrar’s office.

“How do we handle those? I don’t have an answer to that right now,” Glover said. “They’re in hand, but we’re not processing them we until get some clarification on who is the responsible party for that is – meaning we’re not sure who is supposed to process the ballots – the city clerks or the board of registrars.”

No matter the outcome of the provisional ballots, there will be a runoff race on Oct. 9 among the following candidates:

• In Opp: Mayoral candidates H.D. Edgar, the incumbent, and John Bartholomew; district 2 candidates Sue Bowdoin and T.D. Morgan; and district 3 candidates, the incumbent, Mickey Crew, and Mike Booth.

• In Red Level: Mayoral candidates Willie J. Hendrix and Deborah Hoffman.

• In Gantt: Mayoral candidates Missy Grissett, the incumbent, and Connie Cauthen.

Locals can also register to vote in the runoff election, Glover said. Cut off is 10 days prior to the election, or Sept. 25.