The Associated Press is Mississippi’s media outlet that accumulates statewide votes and calls elections. However, it has not yet made a final decision in the Central District Supreme Court race. According to the Associated Press, Griffis holds 52.2% of votes and leads by almost 14,172 votes. According to election officials, approximately 18,000 absentee votes were being counted in Democratic stronghold Hinds County Wednesday afternoon. And about 17,000 were being counted by Republican bulwark Rankin County. Although judicial candidates are eligible to run in non-partisan elections on Wednesday, Westbrooks has strong support from Democratic voters just like Griffis with Republicans. In the Central District’s Delta section, other ballots could still be counted. It is unclear if those ballots were cast by Democrats or Republicans. Nationally, Democrats were more likely to vote early during the COVID-19 epidemic. In February 2019, the then-Gov. Griffis, who was the former chief judge of the Court of Appeals Court of Appeals, was elected to the Supreme Court. Phil Bryant will replace Chief Justice Bill Waller who has retired. Griffis, a Meridian native, now lives in Madison County. Westbrooks, who represents District 2, Jackson and a large portion of west Mississippi, is currently serving her first term as a Court of Appeals member. She hopes to become the first African American woman and fifth Black member of the state’s highest judiciary. In modern history, the nine-member court has never had two African American members at once. The Court currently has one woman, Dawn Beam from the Southern District, and one Black member, Leslie King from the Central District. It also includes seven white men. On Tuesday, Justice Josiah Coleman, the incumbent in his Northern District seat, won reelection, defeating DeSoto County Chancery Judge Percy Lynchard. Coleman, who is from Choctaw County and has just completed his eight-year term as a Supreme Court justice. Votes continue to pour in from across the state. It was speculated that the presidential election this year would set a new record in turnout. In 2008, Mississippi saw 1,289,939 votes cast for John McCain and Barack Obama. This was the highest number of votes ever cast. The current count of votes in Mississippi is just over 1 million. However, that number will rise as more ballots are counted. But it remains to be seen if the turnout will surpass record levels.