FERRIDAY &8212; Andy Anders isn&8217;t quite convinced there will be a runoff after all.

But his opponent, Sam Thomas, thinks the Nov. 7 runoff is inevitable.

Secretary of State Al Ater said Thomas was most likely right.

Anders said Monday the totals posted on the secretary of state&8217;s Web site and what he was told from the clerks of court offices in Madison and East Carroll parishes were conflicting.

&8220;There will be no real way to tell what the actual total was until Tuesday,&8221; Anders said. &8220;I&8217;m pretty sure I received more votes than what was posted on the Web site, but I won&8217;t start planning for my campaign until I&8217;m sure there is a run-off.&8221;

According to the secretary of state&8217;s Web site, Anders received 49 percent of the vote in District 21 with 4,616 total votes; Thomas received 28 percent with 2,630 votes while James Lee received 24 percent with 2,236 votes.

In East Carroll and Madison parishes, Anders received 232 votes each while Thomas received 755 in East Carroll Parish and 1,030 in Madison Parish.

Ater said it is possible by human error that votes might have been miscounted but typically the error is not great enough to make a difference in the outcome.

&8220;In my five years of doing this, I&8217;ve never seen a mistake change the outcome of an election,&8221; Ater said.

Ater said in order for Anders to win without a run-off he would have needed to win by 126 votes, 51 percent of the total votes.

Thomas said he is quite confident there will be run-off and is already planning his campaign.

&8220;I will continue to use the same tactics like going door-to-door, letter writing and campaigning at church activities, but I plan to step it up a notch,&8221; Thomas said.

Although he said he was pleased to get the most votes in his area, Thomas said he was discouraged at the 30 percent participation rate by voters in East Carroll and Madison parishes.

&8220;We all need to feel some shame that we as Americans don&8217;t participate more often in our elections,&8221; Thomas said.