ATLANTA — The Georgia Secretary of State office will remain in Republican hands, it appears. 

Republican Brad Raffensperger has defeated Democrat John Barrow in a runoff election. 

While all election night results are unofficial until certified by the state, Raffensperger was handily winning the runoff Tuesday by garnering around 52 percent of the vote, with 99 percent of precincts reporting. 

The race for the state’s next secretary of state was pushed to a runoff when neither candidate was able to amass 50 percent plus one vote in the general election because of the presence of a third party candidate. 

In another high profile runoff, Republican Chuck Eaton retained the District 3 seat on the state’s Public Service Commission, defeating Democrat Lindy Miller. 

Less than 25 percent of Georgia’s 6.4 million registered voters cast ballots in the runoff.