WEST VIRGINIA — Democrat and acting Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin won not only Mason County but the race for West Virginia’s next governor in Tuesday’s special election.

Tomblin won Mason County over Republican challenger Bill Maloney by 164 votes in an election which saw only 24 percent of the county’s registered voters turn out.

The race for votes went back and forth throughout the evening in Mason County with Tomblin leading Maloney by 140 votes with seven of 38 precincts reporting. Then, with 15 of 38 precincts reporting, Maloney pulled ahead by 40 votes. However, the end result, with 38 of 38 precincts reporting, had Tomblin with 2,211 votes and Maloney with 2,047 votes. This translated into Tomblin with 49 percent and Maloney with 45 percent of the vote in Mason County.

Though Tomblin and Maloney were the front runners in the race, they were not the only candidates and New Haven’s Marla D. Ingels (Independent) had 171 votes which was nearly four percent of the county’s vote. Other final vote totals in Mason County for remaining candidates were: Bob H. Barber (Mountain Party), 38 votes; Harry V. Bertram (American Third Position Party), 10 votes; seven write-in votes were counted.

As reported earlier, only 24 percent of Mason County’s registered voters turned out, according to the W.Va. Secretary of State’s Office - this translated into 4,547 total votes cast, according to numbers provided by Mason County Clerk Diana Cromley and her staff.

Other statistics about Tuesday’s election: 1,068 of the 4,547 total votes cast were done by early voting; 372 Republicans and 473 Democrats voted a straight party ticket, while 14 Mountain Party voters cast a straight party ticket.

Tomblin will serve out the remaining year of the term won by former Gov. Joe Manchin who now sits in the US Senate.