Seven-figure price tag for Court of Appeals runoff

<p>Election officials predict it will cost state and county governments at least $1 million to hold a runoff election for the top two finishers in the state Court of Appeals race.</p><p>The typically quiet judicial race was the only Georgia election from the Nov. 2 ballot that will require a runoff _ presumably the final stage of a strange election that many assumed would be wrapped up as early as July.</p><p>Debra Bernes, a former Cobb County prosecutor and the top vote-getter on Nov. 2, will face Howard Mead, a former legal aide to Govs. Zell Miller and Roy Barnes.</p><p>Very light voter turnout is predicted for the election, which falls on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. County governments will bear most of the cost.</p><p>"You're printing absentee ballots, you're hiring poll workers, in some cases you're renting space," said Chris Riggall, spokesman for Secretary of State Cathy Cox. "You're talking well over $1 million."</p><p>The Georgia Supreme Court ordered a revote of the original election in July because Mead was misidentified as Thomas Mead on 481 absentee ballots in Laurens County.</p><p>Mead argued the ballot mistake cost him a spot in a runoff with Bernes, the top vote-getter, after he fell just 382 votes short of topping second-place finisher Mike Sheffield.</p><p>The court canceled a scheduled August runoff between Bernes, a former Cobb County assistant district attorney, and Sheffield, who formerly held a similar post in DeKalb County.</p><p>Neither had won the required 45 percent of the total vote in the July election to avoid a runoff.</p><p>In the Nov. 2 election, Bernes took 41.1 percent of the vote, again falling short of the 45 percent needed to avoid a runoff. Mead finished second with about 38 percent and Sheffield landed in third with just short of 20 percent.</p><p>The race has been costly for the candidates as well.</p><p>Mead, who flooded television airwaves with advertising throughout the campaign, led the field with about $1.3 million in campaign cash as of Sept. 30.</p><p>Bernes had raised $361,500 when candidates were required to report at the end of September. But she and Sheffield emptied much of their campaign coffers in August, before the Supreme Court canceled the planned election between the two.</p><p>Now, they'll try to win votes in an election in which turnout could be almost nonexistent. The state's last post-General Election runoff _ a Public Service Commission race in 1998 _ drew four percent of registered voters.</p><p>"This is so much different than Nov. 2," said Mead. "That was mass retail politics; this one's a lot more retail and a lot more grassroots and a lot more figuring out where the voters are."</p>