PoliticsFriday, November 6, 20261 min read

No one knows how many ballots are outstanding in Mississippi's Senate race

By Miles Parks · Via NPR · Published by Everything Blog

In short

Fewer than 2,000 votes separate the two candidates as county officials work through thousands of unresolved ballots. Estimates of remaining votes range from more than 15,000 to roughly 20,000, including late-arriving mail ballots and affidavit ballots requiring eligibility reviews. The count is further complicated by the state's use of credit data to maintain voter lists, which funnels inactive voters into provisional balloting.

Key points

Decentralized county tracking and absent state reporting requirements have obscured the e…: Decentralized county tracking and absent state reporting requirements have obscured the exact total of remaining ballots.
Inactive voter policies and credit data maintenance have pushed Mississippi's provisional…: Inactive voter policies and credit data maintenance have pushed Mississippi's provisional ballot rate toward an estimated 1.5%.
Election experts consider Mississippi's election administration to be among the slowest c…: Election experts consider Mississippi's election administration to be among the slowest counting systems in the nation.

Sources checked by our analysis pipeline: 1

In Mississippi's too-close-to-call U.S. Senate race, every ballot matters.

But no one can say for sure how many ballots there are left to count.

The razor-thin margin between incumbent Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith and Democratic challenger Scott Colom is shining a light on an election process in Mississippi that is among the slowest and most decentralized in the country.

"Mississippi is not a model of election administration," said Michael Morse, a law professor at the University of Pennsylvania who studies voting.

As of midday Friday, fewer than 2,000 votes separated the two Senate candidates. But information about exactly how many ballots were outstanding was hard to come by.

The Colom campaign said late Tuesday it was aware of more than 15,000 provisional ballots, which require verification before they're counted. And the chair of the state Republican Party said Thursday he thought there were 20,000 outstanding ballots, including potential absentee votes that can legally be received by officials until Nov. 10 if they were postmarked by Election Day.

Mississippi's top voting official, Republican Secretary of State Michael Watson, said counties…

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In short

Key Points

Decentralized county tracking and absent state reporting requirements have obscured the e…: Decentralized county tracking and absent state reporting requirements have obscured the exact total of remaining ballots.
Inactive voter policies and credit data maintenance have pushed Mississippi's provisional…: Inactive voter policies and credit data maintenance have pushed Mississippi's provisional ballot rate toward an estimated 1.5%.
Election experts consider Mississippi's election administration to be among the slowest c…: Election experts consider Mississippi's election administration to be among the slowest counting systems in the nation.

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AI Analysis

Tone

Neutral

In short

Key Points

Decentralized county tracking and absent state reporting requirements have obscured the e…: Decentralized county tracking and absent state reporting requirements have obscured the exact total of remaining ballots.
Inactive voter policies and credit data maintenance have pushed Mississippi's provisional…: Inactive voter policies and credit data maintenance have pushed Mississippi's provisional ballot rate toward an estimated 1.5%.
Election experts consider Mississippi's election administration to be among the slowest c…: Election experts consider Mississippi's election administration to be among the slowest counting systems in the nation.

Topics

Politics

Was this summary useful?

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No one knows how many ballots are outstanding in Mississippi's Senate race

In short

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