Wilkes County voters need to return to the polls December 2 to complete the 2008 election, Judge Jim Burton said, by voting in the run-off election for Wilkes Probate judge and for a seat in the U.S. Senate.

In the eight-candidate Wilkes Probate Judge race, the runoff is between Kimberly Rainey, who got 26.96 percent of the vote, and Thomas Charping, with 22.95 percent. County and state elections require a majority - 50 percent plus one - to win.

The U.S. Senate race will also face a runoff, as incumbent Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss came up just short of winning a majority in last Tuesday's vote, taking 49.8% to Democratic challenger Jim Martin's 47%.

Advance voting for the runoff will be Monday, November 24, through Wednesday, November 26, 8 a.m. until 5 p.m., at the Wilkes County Courthouse.

Requests for absentee ballots by mail must be made by Wednesday, November 26.

Polls open at 7 a.m. Dec. 2 and close at 7 p.m.

Election officials hope that the hotly contested U.S. Senate race will bring out voters to vote in the Wilkes Probate judgeship runoff

With a record election turnout in Wilkes County last week, voters chose Mark Moore for Sheriff, retained Rosa Lee Martin as magistrate judge, and sent Kimberly Rainey and Thomas Charping to a runoff election for Wilkes Probate Judge.

A crowd of voters and candidates watched the election returns being projected in the Wilkes County courtroom, and by a little after 9 p.m., the totals were in. An incredible 82.37 percent of Wilkes voters cast ballots in the election, nearly evenly divided between early voting and election day voting.