In addition to winning statewide, U.S. Sen. Trent Lott is the winner in the Adams County election. Even though Lott trailed Democrat Troy D. Brown in Adams&160;County’s unofficial returns, he pulled ahead once the results were certified Friday.

Lott received 7,183 votes, or 49.89 percent of the vote, while Brown received 7,062 votes, or 49.05 percent.

In unofficial returns, Lott trailed Brown by 30 with only 6,884 votes and 49.36 percent of the vote to Brown’s 6,914 votes and 49.58 percent.

The winners in all the other Adams&160;County races remained the same but the number of votes did increase.

Election Commissioners attribute the changes to the large number of affidavit ballots that were not counted until after Tuesday. Commissioners spent the next three days examining the affidavit ballots.

The high voter turnout lengthened the certification process, said Bob Barrett, chairman of the election commission.

&uot;In a presidential election we’ve been running anywhere from the low 40s to 51 or 52 percent in (voter turnout),&uot; Barrett said.

But on Tuesday, more than 63 percent of Adams County’s registered voters cast ballots.

&uot;Usually (we) can certify a normal election by Thursday,&uot; Barrett said.

It’s rare for the process to take until Friday.

&uot;Anytime you put more (people in the system) you have more kinks,&uot; Barrett said.

Barrett could not give an exact number of affidavit ballots cast Tuesday but he guessed they received up to 20 percent more than usual.

People vote affidavit if poll workers cannot find their names on a list of registered voters.

After the election, the commissioners take the ballots and determine if each affidavit voter is in fact registered to vote in Adams County, Barrett said.

The changes in Adams County’s election results were also affected by at least 300 absentee ballots that could not be counted until after Tuesday because of problems at polling places.

Poll workers at Duncan Park and Adams County Courthouse turned off the ballot machines and began the electronic count before the absentee ballots had been run.

Also, at Carpenter School, the ballot machine unexpectedly jammed while absentee ballots were being fed through, forcing workers to discontinue the count Tuesday.