First vote: Beatty leads but fails to get majority

Appeals Court judge Donald Beatty of Spartanburg outdistanced  two other judges vying for a seat on the state Supreme Court, but he failed to get a majority of lawmaker's votes needed to earn a seat on the high court.

Beatty, in the next round of voting, will need four more votes to win the seat.

In the voting, Beatty got 78 votes, Columbia Appeals Court Judge Bruce Williams got 50 votes and Conway Appeals Court Chief Judge Kaye Han got 35 votes.

The winner will need 82 votes to take the seat being vacated by the retiring E.C. Burnett.