It has been reported that former state lawmakers Tom Graves and Lee Hawkins Tuesday headed to a June runoff in Georgia's 9th Congressional District special election.

With most of the votes counted, Graves, a businessman from the small northwestern Georgia town of Ranger who has the Atlanta Tea Party endorsement, had about 34 percent of the vote to 24 percent for Hawkins, a dentist from Gainesville, in the eight-candidate field, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has reported.

It was further reported that on a day when the voter turnout was light, neither garnered the 50 percent of the total vote needed to immediately succeed U. S. Rep. Nathan Deal, who switched from Democrat to Republican and is giving up his seat to run for governor.

The runoff will be June 8 with the winner finishing Deal's term, which ends in January.

It was also reported that there were six Republicans, one Democrat and one independent on Tuesday's ballot.

The six Republican candidates, along with a seventh Republican who didn't enter the special election, also qualified for the state's July primary for the seat's next term. (With Inputs from Agencies)