Ben Harrison has won the runoff for the contested District 2 Alabama House Republican race. The seat, residing in Limestone and Lauderdale Counties, has been contested by Ralph D. Long and Walter L. Patterson, Jr. of Lauderdale County.

According to the Alabama Secretary of State unofficial results, Harrison received 55.58 percent of the vote while Jason Black got 44.42 percent.

“Things did not turn out like we wanted. Thank you to everyone that worked for me,” Black said on his campaign Facebook page. “There will be a few that may boast or gloat about the loss. Enjoy it. I would have been happy if I won too … Hopefully that Ole sun will rise in the morning.”

Jason Black and Kimberly Butler, the second and third place finishers in the primary election, were separated by 14 votes.

Ben Harrison took second place in both Lauderdale and Limestone Counties but came out on top overall in the primary.

“An election contest is pending before the Republican State Executive Committee to determine whether Butler would have made the runoff if these voters had been registered in the correct district,” said a news release from the Bachus, Brom and Taylor law office on June 20.

According to the same news release, 70 registered voters in Lauderdale County voted in the wrong district in May due to a malfunction in the voter registration system incorrectly assigning District 2 voters to District 1.

Voters on Bentbrook Drive, Johnson Drive, Oakbrook Drive and Shadybrook Drive in Florence and County Road 159 in Lexington.

“These voters actually live in House District 2, according to the official maps of the Permanent Legislative Committee on Reapportionment,” said Bryan Taylor, an attorney and former state senator who represents some of the affected voters. “The legislature redrew district lines as constitutionally required after the last census. But somehow, the update never made it into the voter registration database.” The glitch is still being investigated, Taylor said.

The news release went on to say, “Lauderdale County Probate Judge Will Motlow had an idea to correct the problem. Wanting all the voters of House District 2 to be able to participate in the run-off to elect their next representative in Montgomery, he personally delivered the correct ballots to the affected polling places earlier today. But because of time constraints, the affected voters will still need to request a provisional ballot in order to vote in the House District 2 runoff election.”

Election results

At the end of the election night, Harrison won Lauderdale County and Black won Limestone County.

With 13 out of 14 precincts reporting in Lauderdale County, the result of the District 2 race is as follows:

Jason Spencer Black: 1,727 votes or 38.23 percent

Ben Harrison: 2,790 votes or 61.77 percent

With 13 out of 14 precincts reporting in Limestone County, the result of the district 2 race is as follows:

Jason Spencer Black: 1,716 votes or 53.06 percent

Ben Harrison: 1,518 votes or 46.94 percent

The fourteenth precinct in both counties are provisional ballots and will be counted on June 28 when the election results are certified.

The Alabama Republican Party will meet on June 25 to determine the result of the pending election contest.

There is currently no information available regarding how many runoff voters were impacted by the District 2 voter registration system malfunction, according to Probate Judge Will Motlow.

This is a developing story.