Deny it if you dare, but every vote really does matter. Election Day for a special run-off election for an Arkansas House seat ended in a tie. The results Tuesday, have Joy Springer and Ryan Davis locked in a dead heat at 372-372.

There are just seven outstanding ballots that remain to be counted….check out more from the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

Pulaski County Election Commissioner Joshua Price said late Tuesday that there are five outstanding overseas military ballots that the commission has yet to receive in the runoff. Additionally, he said two provisional ballots cast Tuesday could be counted if the voters are able to clarify the issues — such as not having a photo ID — that prevented them from casting a regular ballot.

The election commission will meet Thursday, Price said, to determine what to do if the race remains tied after the results are certified.

“There has never been a tie in a runoff before,” Price said.

Tuesday’s runoff was the second of as many as six potential rounds of voting this year in House District 34 to determine a successor to state Rep. John Walker, D-Little Rock, who died last fall.

Each of the four Democrats who filed for the ongoing special election also filed to run in the regularly scheduled cycle of 2020 elections. So did an independent candidate, Roderick Talley.

That means the winner of the runoff will face Talley in a special general election on March 3, at the same time that they will have to face off against previously eliminated Democrats H. “Otis” Tyler and Lee Miller in a new round of primary voting. If no candidate earns a simple majority in the regular primary, it would trigger another runoff election to determine who faces Talley in the Nov. 3 general election.

The Arkansas House seat was formerly held by Civil Rights icon John Walker. He passed away last October. Read more about John Walker’s contribution to Arkansas history.