It’s been more than a week since Election Day, but the race for Congress between Steve Stivers and Mary Jo Kilroy is far from over.

“Right now we’re in a bit of a holding pattern,” said Rob Nichols, campaign press secretary for Stivers. “I don’t know how long this will stretch on.”

Stivers is leading Kilroy by a mere 393 votes with tens of thousands of votes left to be counted, according to Kilroy Communications Director Brad Bauman.

“There are somewhere between [20,000 to 30,000] votes in Franklin County that haven’t been counted yet,” Bauman said. “We’re basically just in an extension of election night right now.”

There are various reasons why these ballots haven’t been counted yet, Bauman said.

“Some are early votes, some are vote by mail and some are provisional,” Bauman said.

The Franklin County Board of Elections will begin counting these votes this weekend.

“Friday the overseas ballots are counted and Saturday they will begin counting provisional ballots,” Nichols said.

Friday is also the last day for anyone who voted provisionally to go in and make sure that his or her ballot is counted, Bauman said.

“A large portion of these provisional ballots that were cast may be from campus and students at OSU,” he said. “It’s a very easy process, but they need to ensure their vote is counted.”

Once these votes begin to be counted, the board has until Nov. 24 to finalize them.

In a race that was decided by only 1,000 votes two years ago, the outcome is difficult to predict.

“We’re just in waiting game right now,” Bauman said.

Both camps have remained optimistic about the results.

“You could make a strong argument either way,” Nichols said. “But we’re pretty confident that things will break our way.”

Despite Stivers’ current lead, the uncounted votes could change the race, Bauman said.

“With this many votes outstanding in areas that Mary Jo has represented for her entire career, we know that when they are counted, she will be the winner,” he said.

For now, all both candidates can do is wait.

“We have to allow the Board of Elections to do their job and count the votes,” Nichols said. “All we can do is be prepared for whatever comes down from the board.”

Megan Savage can be reached at [email protected].