Razor-tight Mississippi Senate race sparks ballot battle - could there be a recount?
Summary
Democrat Scott Colom leads Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith by about 2,500 votes, with 97% of votes counted in Mississippi’s U.S. Senate race. The campaigns are disputing how officials handle outstanding ballots as the state approaches its 13 November certification deadline; Mississippi has no set procedure for triggering a recount.Key Facts
- Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson said 3,600 absentee-by-mail ballots remained to be counted as of Wednesday.
- The state can accept mail ballots postmarked by Election Day if they arrive by 10 November.
- An unknown number of provisional ballots also remain, and voters have until 10 November to resolve identification issues.
- Mississippi Republican Party Chair Michael Hurst estimated that about 20,000 ballots remained, while Hyde-Smith’s campaign said thousands were still outstanding in Republican counties.
- Lawyers for both campaigns sent letters to election officials about how to count and handle provisional ballots.
- Hyde-Smith’s lawyers asked all 82 counties to keep provisional ballots separate and preserve related records; Colom’s lawyers argued the request had no legal authority.
- Mississippi law allows candidates to examine ballot boxes and their contents within 12 days after the relevant canvass, but does not require all accepted provisional ballots to be kept separate.
- If Colom wins, he would be the first Black U.S. senator elected in Mississippi since 1875.
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