An election marked by reports of long lines at polls and vote-counters overwhelmed with more than one million absentee ballots was also particularly tough on some incumbents in the legal community.

Voters appear to have replaced Judge Rebecca Crumrine Rieder of Fulton County Superior Court with Shermela Williams, a former prosecutor and current litigator with Thomas Kennedy Sampson & Tompkins. Williams led by nearly 14,000 votes (56.43% to 43.57%), according to the Fulton County elections website with 91.26% of the precincts reporting.

Rieder was a 2018 appointee to the court by then-Gov. Nathan Deal.

In Cobb County, Magistrate Judge Angela Brown defeated Superior Court Judge Reuben Green, 61.29% to 38.71%, with 99.31% of the precincts reporting, according to the Cobb County elections site. Brown led by about 18,000 votes among 79,000 counted.

Back in Fulton Superior, Judge Rachelle Carenesale, a former prosecutor and assistant attorney general who was appointed last year by Gov. Brian Kemp, clung to an 1,832 vote lead (50.86% to 49.14%, with 91.26% reporting) over Tiffany Sellers, who has a private practice in Atlanta, serves as of counsel with Johnson & Freeman and as a part-time municipal court judge in Union City, Forest Park and Riverdale.

The race to replace Fulton County Superior Court Judge Constance C. Russell, who is finishing up nearly 25 years on the bench, appears headed for an Aug. 11 runoff. Mediator Tamika Hrobowski-Houston led with 40.63%, followed by Fulton County Magistrate Court Judge Melynee Leftridge Harris, with 28.52%. Magistrate Judge Ashley Baker Osby had 18.26% of the vote, and Hait & Kuhn partner Lizz Kuhn had 12.6%.

State Supreme Court

Justice Charlie Bethel appears to have defeated a challenger, former Republican legislator Beth Beskin. According to the secretary of state's website, Bethel held a 97,000 vote lead, 53% to 47%, with 81% of the precincts reporting at 2 p.m. Wednesday.

Justice Sarah Warren appears to have soundly defeated Albany prosecutor Harold Moroz, 78% to 22%, according to the secretary of state's website.

Fulton Probate

The race to replace Probate Judge Pinkie Toomer, who is retiring, appeared to have been won handily by Kenya Johnson, the chief deputy solicitor in the office of Fulton County Solicitor General Keith Gammage. According to Fulton's election site, Johnson had 65.9% of the vote over Diane Weinberg (17.81%), of counsel with Alpharetta's estate and tax planning boutique Morgan & DiSalvo, and Tim Curtin (16.29%), who oversees a solo practice in Atlanta specializing in wills and estate planning.

DeKalb Superior

The race to replace retiring Judge Clarence Seeliger appeared headed for a runoff. Yolanda Parker-Smith, a senior attorney with the Fulton County Public Defender's office, held a commanding lead in the first runoff spot, with 42,409 votes, according to the DeKalb County elections site.

But with only 89.53% of the precincts reporting—and no mail-in votes counted—the second spot was too close to call. Mindy Pillow, a Decatur solo specializing in family law, was in second, with 12,088 votes, while Vincent Crawford, the chief judge of the DeKalb County Juvenile Court, had 10,683, and Roderick Bridges, who served as a judge on the old DeKalb County Recorders Court, had 10,505.

Aaron Chausmer, a senior counsel at business litigation boutique Hecht Walker, had 4,073.

Cobb Superior

The race to replace Cobb County Superior Court J. Stephen Schuster, who is retiring, is headed to a runoff, according to results from the Cobb elections website reporting about 99% of its precincts. The runoff candidates appear to be, at 2 p.m. Wednesday, Cobb County Senior District Attorney Jason Marbutt, who had 36.69%, and attorney Greg Shenton, who represents businesses in litigation, leases, construction documents and other matters, with 34.80% of the vote. Criminal defense lawyer John Robert Greco had 28.51%.

The contest for the seat of retiring Judges S. Lark Ingram was won handily by Cobb Magistrate Court Judge Kellie Hill, who took in about 62% of the vote over family law practitioner Daniele C. Johnson, who had about 38%.

Also, a race for a superior court seat in the Alcovy Circuit is in a tight three-way race set for a runoff. Jeffrey Foster led with 34.58%, followed by Cheveda McCamy with 33.16%, and Robert Stansfield at 32.26%, according to the secretary of state's site.