Mississippi Senate Race Lacks Ballot Counts
Officials admit they cannot say how many provisional votes remain in the tight contest.
By Samantha Reed ·
Election officials in Mississippi cannot determine the exact number of outstanding ballots in the state's U.S. Senate race.
The margin between incumbent Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith and Democratic challenger Scott Colom stood at fewer than 2,000 votes as of midday Friday. The Colom campaign reported late Tuesday that it was tracking more than 15,000 provisional ballots. State Republican Party chair estimated on Thursday that 20,000 ballots were still pending, including absentee votes postmarked by Election Day but legally receivable until Nov. 10.
Secretary of State Michael Watson, a Republican, stated that counties manage their own elections. His office confirmed that over 9,000 provisional ballots had been processed by midday Friday but could not provide a total count. Watson noted that the 82 counties in the state are not required to transmit results to the state capital until next week.
Michael Morse, a law professor at the University of Pennsylvania who studies voting, described the lack of data as shocking for such a high-profile contest. He said he struggled to understand the unfolding process and could not identify basic details about the count.
Mississippi uses affidavit ballots for voters with questionable eligibility. Local officials review these case by case before counting them. If the Colom campaign's estimate holds, the provisional rate would be roughly 1.5% of total Senate votes. Federal data from the 2022 midterm showed only four states had higher provisional rates. North Carolina's preliminary rate this year is about half of Mississippi's.
The high number of affidavit ballots stems from the state's voter registration rules. Mississippi requires voters marked as inactive to cast provisional ballots. Most other states allow these voters to cast regular ballots for at least two federal general elections after being moved to inactive status. Local outlet Mississippi Today has reported on the state's experimental use of credit data to remove voters from lists.
Watson defended the process on X on Tuesday, calling the extra time spent voting via affidavit worth the election integrity gained by cleaner rolls. Kathy Boockvar, former Pennsylvania secretary of state, told NPR that the process creates suspicion among voters who believe they are eligible. She said transparency and good data are essential to combating distrust in states that are not traditional battlegrounds.
