Mississippi vote count drags in US Senate cliffhanger

Election officials in Mississippi were racing Friday to verify thousands of outstanding ballots in a razor-thin US Senate race, three days after Democrats swept to power in a historic defeat for President Donald Trump’s Republicans.

Democrat Scott Colom held a narrow lead of fewer than 2,000 votes over Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith, with roughly 96% of ballots counted.

The unusually prolonged count reflects Mississippi’s election procedures, which allow officials several days to process mail-in and provisional ballots — potentially enough to decide the contest.

Secretary of state Michael Watson said in his last update posted on X Thursday that around 3,300 absentee ballots remained outstanding.

And he separately estimated that between 12,000 and 20,000 provisional votes — known as affidavit ballots — remain uncounted, according to local NBC affiliate WDAM-7.

These are cast by people whose eligibility cannot be confirmed at polling stations, sometimes because of missing identification or discrepancies in voter registration records.

Voters have until Tuesday to resolve certain problems with their ballots. Mail votes postmarked by Election Day can also arrive through Tuesday, while Mississippi’s 82 counties have until Nov 13 to certify their results.

The close contest has prompted both parties to deploy lawyers, with Republicans demanding that officials preserve records relating to the outstanding ballots in anticipation of possible legal challenges.

Mississippi has no automatic recount procedure, although candidates can seek court intervention.

A Colom victory would be extraordinary in a state Trump carried by more than 20 percentage points in 2024.

Mississippi has not elected a Democratic senator since 1982, and Colom would be its first Black senator since the Reconstruction era following the American Civil War.

The stakes have diminished nationally, however, after Democrats captured both chambers of Congress in Tuesday’s midterm elections, securing their Senate majority without needing Mississippi.

The other outstanding Senate race is in Alaska, where Democrat Mary Peltola narrowly leads Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan.

Alaska’s vast distances, remote communities and mail-ballot deadlines mean counting takes longer. Further updates are scheduled for November 10, 13 and 18, with ranked-choice tabulation due on the final date.

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