VALDOSTA — Saxby Chambliss may be headed for a runoff against Democratic candidate Jim Martin, a former state lawmaker who lost his bid for lieutenant governor in 2006. With Chambliss’ support at less than 50 percent and a third-party candidate polling 10 percent of the vote, the possibility of a runoff with Martin remains a cause for concern for the incumbent, according to Dr. James LaPlant, who headed the Center for Applied Research’s telephone survey at Valdosta State University.

Georgia is the only state in the union that requires a candidate to get 50 percent plus one of the vote, which means that if this senate seat must be decided by a runoff, voters will have to put up with another 28 days of campaigning before another vote can decide the outcome.

The position of Jack Kingston is equally precarious. Kingston’s support is exactly 50 percent with almost one in four registered voters undecided, according to the survey, making a runoff in Georgia’s First Congressional District with challenger Bill Gillespie a possibility. The tightness of these races involving Republican incumbents is being attributed to a combination of factors, including high voter turnout by Democrats and other Obama supporters, a “throw the bums out” reaction by many voters who feel the country is on the wrong track and third party-candidates who are attracting a significant percentage of votes from independent and previously undecided voters, according to LaPlant’s CAR telephone survey as well as national survey results.

The races for local offices are less contentious. The VSU study shows Ashley Paulk with a commanding lead over rival G. Norman Bennett for chairman of the Lowndes County Board of Commissioners — 58 percent for Paulk to 28 percent for Bennett. Chris Prine holds an almost identical lead over Freddie Taylor — 57 percent to 27 percent — for the office of Lowndes County sheriff, according to the CAR survey.