UPDATE: According to the Associated Press, as of Tuesday Franklin Foil has officially requested a recount of the absentee paper ballots in the state Senate race, which is slated to head a three-person runoff with Steve Carter and Beverly Brooks Thompson. 

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BATON ROUGE -  A computerized recount of mail-in votes reveals a tie between Republican Franklin Foil and fellow-Republican Steve Carter for the Senate District 16 runoff against Democratic front-runner, Beverly Brooks Thompson.

Both Republican camps confirm that on Sunday, Secretary of State, Kyle Ardoin had a discussion with them about the situation.

According to the Baton Rouge Business Report, Foil was shocked by the news, saying, “They told us they had rerun the written ballots, which they said is not that unusual, and when they reran them it showed my race with Steve was a tie. Last night we were eight votes up. Now, we are tied. So we are trying to figure out moving forward what we will do.”

On Tuesday, the Secretary of State’s office will open the machines to certify Saturday’s results. And, on Thursday, the campaigns can officially request a full recount by hand of the 1,000 or so mail-in ballots, which Foil says he plans to do.

Carter’s campaign told the Baton Rouge Business Report that it did not request the recount of mail-in votes, but “is elated we made the runoff.”

If the votes between Carter and Foil remain dead even, all three candidates will be on the ballot in the Nov. 16 runoff.

By law, the top vote-getter wins which means the election will be decided by a plurality, not a majority, of voters in the district.