NATCHEZ — More than half of Adams County’s absentee and affidavit ballots have been counted by election officials, and so far, the votes show Charles R. “Chuck” Mayfield leading Randy Freeman.

“We finished canvassing District 1 and District 2, and it appears with the preliminary numbers that Chuck Mayfield has increased his lead, so he is 139 votes ahead of Randy Freeman,” Gardner said.

District 1 consists of Bellemont, Bypass Fire and the courthouse precincts, and district 2 is Kingston, Beau Pré, Duncan Park and Liberty Park.

“We got the largest boxes with the most absentee ballots done today,” Gardner said. “Those are the big hitters that usually carry a fairly good percentage of voters. But we still have 13 boxes to go, so it’s still too early to call.”

Gardner said election workers have had no problems with the boxes, and that the majority of the absentee and affidavit ballots were verified, thus making workers’ jobs easier.

Since the remaining boxes do not contain as many absentee votes as the seven boxes election workers counted today, Gardner hopes to finalize the election by the end of the day.

“We’ll be starting a 9 a.m. sharp (today,)” Gardner said. “We hope we’ll be done (today) before we leave the courthouse.”