Kirk Boyd, at left, is given his ballot card by poll volunteer Nellie Paulk at Tommy Meredith Gymnasium Tuesday for the state runoff elections. Turn out was light for the elections, as poll workers said only 141 people came out to vote by about 2 p.m.

Colquitt County voters favored Republican Karen Handel by  nearly a 10-point margin in the gubernatorial runoff and gave the nod to Georganna Sinkfield in the Democratic secretary of state contest.

Statewide, with more than 60 percent of votes counted, former Republican U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal held a slight lead over the former secretary of state.

The winner in the gubernatorial runoff will face Democrat Roy Barnes in November.

In Colquitt County, Handel received 54.75 percent of the vote to 45.25 percent for Deal. Handel had 1,049 votes to 867 for Deal.

Sinkfield received 170 votes and 54.84 percent to 140 votes, or 45.16, for Gail Buckner.

The secretary of state race was the only runoff election on the Democratic ballot.

In the Republican race for attorney general, Colquitt County voters favored Preston W. Smith with 53.59 percent of the vote to Sam Olens’ 46.41 percent.

Statewide, however, Olens had built a 20-point lead over Smith, 60 percent to 40 percent.

For insurance commissioner, a majority of county voters chose Ralph T. Hudgens by 53.39 percent to 46.61 percent over Maria Sheffield. In statewide voting Hudgens had a 10-point lead over Sheffield.

In the Republican runoff for Public Service Commission, Colquitt County voters narrowly favored John  Douglas, who received 832 votes, or 50.55 percent of ballots cast, while Tim Echols had 814 votes.

Voter turnout for the race was 12.14 percent, with 2,248 of 18,523 registered voters casting ballots in the runoff election.

About 21 percent of county voters turned out for the July 20 primary election.