NATCHEZ — Almost half of Adams County’s registered voters showed up at the polls Tuesday in an election with an outcome that may not be known until Friday.

Election Commissioner Larry Gardner said while the night’s final summary report showed 46.4 percent of the voters cast votes for sheriff and recreation, he expects to see a larger number by the end of the week.

“Forty-six percent is a good turnout,” Gardner said. “But the numbers will improve. We have 600 to 700 (absentee and affidavit) votes to count.”

The additional votes, which will be counted in the following days, will bring the total number of voters to approximately 10,400 — near 50 percent.

Gardner said preparations are already being made for the sheriff runoff between Ray Brown and either “Chuck” Mayfield or Randy Freeman.

Mayfield had 23.5 percent of the vote Tuesday night while Freeman had 22.5 percent.

The remaining absentee and affidavit ballots could swing those percentages.

“These are uncertified results,” Gardner said. “In this race, it may take a while to get the finalized numbers because we don’t want the election contested.

“We’d be lucky to be done by Friday — we’re shooting for then. The higher the voter turnout, the longer it takes to go through the boxes.”

Gardner said the day ran smoothly.

For poll crews, Gardner said it couldn’t have been a better election day.

“We had great weather and nobody was locked out of their precinct — the supervisors did a really good job at taking care of that for us.”

Both Gardner and Election Commissioner Evelyn Smith said they were pleased with the way the day unfolded.

Gardner and Smith agreed that many thanks should be given to those who helped make the day possible.

“We need to thank the poll workers, because those are long, long hours they spend (at their precincts,)” Smith said. “We also need to thank the voters for their patience.”