NATCHEZ — Adams County Election Commissioners will begin the process today of finalizing the results of last week’s County Court judge election.

Adams County Circuit Clerk Eddie Walker said the commissioners will begin verifying and counting the 448 absentee ballots and a small number of affidavit ballots cast in the election.

The certification process usually takes place the same week as the election, but the Thanksgiving holiday pushed it back, Walker said.

Candidate Walt Brown took the election with 57-percent of the in-person ballots cast in the election, outpacing the 2,547 votes his opponent — Justice Court Judge Patricia Dunmore — received by 840 votes.

Even if all of the absentee ballots go to Dunmore, all the final results can do is narrow the 14-percentage point margin of victory Brown took on election night.

Election Commission Chairman Larry Gardner said last week he expects the absentee ballots to follow the general trend of the election as a whole.

In the general election that the Brown-Dunmore race followed, 494 absentee ballots were cast, making up approximately 5.5 percent of the vote.

The 448 absentee ballots cast for the runoff make up approximately 7 percent of the entire election.