NATCHEZ &045; While Jim Blough claimed victory in the municipal judge’s race in Tuesday night’s runoff, the margin of victory is overshadowed by ballots to be counted Wednesday.

According to unofficial results, Blough won the municipal judge’s race by a slim 93 votes, earning 2,998 votes to challenger Patricia Dunmore’s 2,905.

About 109 absentee ballots and an unknown number of affidavits hang in the balance for Tuesday night’s runoff, City Clerk Donnie Holloway said.

&uot;I’m confident because of the 93 vote margin should be enough to withstand the certification,&uot; Blough said Tuesday night. &uot;I was hoping to win by a larger margin.&uot;

Blough has been in this position before. After the May 4 primary, he had to wait for the certification of votes to determine if he would be in the runoff against Dunmore. After certification of the votes, he edged out judge candidate Lisa Jordan Dale by only 32 votes.

Blough, who served 27 years as municipal judge pro tem, said the primary was &uot;very difficult&uot; for him, waiting for the certification of votes. But this time, it means winning or losing.

&uot;The certification process is critical to my win,&uot; he said.

But Dunmore said Tuesday she will be awaiting the official results to name a winner in the judge’s race and is not conceding the election.

&uot;We’re just going to wait and see what happens,&uot; Dunmore said. &uot;I knew it was going to be close. I think he knew that, too.&uot;

Both Dunmore and Blough said they will be there for the certification of the votes.

&uot;We’ll be at City Hall at 8 o’clock,&uot; Dunmore said.