An update on last week's Senate election from Secretary of State John Merrill indicates there won't be nearly enough overseas and provisional ballots to affect the outcome of the race.

Democrat Doug Jones led Republican Roy Moore by than 20,000 votes before the overseas and provisional ballots.

Merrill's office said there were 366 overseas ballots returned. There were a total of 4,967 provisional ballots received and of those, 2,888 have been verified. Merrill's office said the numbers could change slightly but are not expected to change significantly.

Alabama counties counted the overseas, provisional and write-in ballots on Tuesday. Counties are due to report their final totals, including the provisional and overseas votes, to Merrill's office by Friday.

After that, Merrill said the final results will be certified no earlier than Dec. 26 and no later than Jan. 3 under the dates spelled out in state law.

Moore has not yet conceded the election.

State law calls for an automatic recount if the deciding margin is 0.5 percent or less. Jones' margin was 1.5 percent before provisional and overseas ballots, 49.9 percent to 48.4 percent.