State elections official: The winner of the Supreme Court race likely won’t be announced for several days

The winner of Tuesday’s runoff election between Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Jim Kitchens and Jenifer Branning probably won’t be announced until next week, a Mississippi Secretary of State official said.

Elizabeth Jonson, a spokeswoman for the agency tasked with administering Mississippi’s elections, told Mississippi Today on Wednesday that there are currently more outstanding ballots than the current vote split between Kitchens and Branning, who are vying for a seat on the state’s highest court.

“So voters probably won’t know the result until next week,” Jonson said.

With 97% of the vote reported Wednesday morning, the Associated Press reported that Branning was narrowly leading the race with 50.5% and Kitchens was behind at 49.5%. The two candidates are currently separated by around 1,200 votes in the unofficial lists.

The close race could come down to absentee and affidavit ballots, some of which are still flowing into local election offices. State law currently allows election workers to process mail-in ballots up to five days after Election Day, as long as the ballot was postmarked by the date of the election.

READ MORE: The Supreme Court race remains too close, and the final outcome could depend on absentee and sworn voting

Gov. Tate Reeves declared Thursday and Friday state holidays for Thanksgiving, meaning state and most county employees, including local election workers, will not be required to work those days.

Both Branning and Kitchens appeared to acknowledge in separate social media posts that the narrow vote margin will likely result in several additional days of vote counting.

“Thank you to everyone who helped our campaign in yesterday’s runoff election,” Branning wrote. “As we still wait for the remaining votes to be counted, I am grateful and appreciative of your support.”

Kitchens also said the race was too close to call and that his supporters might not get an answer until next week.

“There are thousands of votes left to count, but we remain hopeful and prayerful,” Kitchens wrote.

This year’s delayed result is similar to a 2020 election for another Supreme Court Central District seat. After 16 days of counting votes in a tight race, then-appointed Supreme Court Justice Kenny Griffis was declared the winner over state appeals court Judge Latrice Westbrooks.

Kitchens is a Crystal Springs native who was first elected to the court in 2008. He is a former district attorney and attorney in private practice. He is widely viewed as one of two centrist members of the court.

Branning, a Philadelphia resident, is a practicing attorney who was first elected to the Legislature in 2015. She challenged Kitchens and promised to ensure “conservative values” are always represented in the judiciary, but she stopped short of endorsing political positions. which is prohibited for judicial candidates from Mississippi.

Counties have until Dec. 6 to certify and submit election results to the Secretary of State’s office.

Live election results: Mississippi Supreme Court Runoff Elections, Court of Appeals