Colom Leads Hyde-Smith by Under 2,000 Votes as Mississippi Senate Count Continues
Democrat Scott Colom led Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith by just under 2,000 votes on Friday, 6 November, as ballots were still being counted in Mississippi's Senate race. The Guardian reported the margin, and Reuters gave the shares at 49.0% for Colom and 48.8% for Hyde-Smith. Reuters reported that the winner remained unclear.
The general election was held on 3 November. Colom is a Democratic prosecutor, and Hyde-Smith is the Republican incumbent seeking to keep her seat. With the margin this narrow, the outcome depends on how the remaining ballots are handled and which ballots are counted.
Lawyers have arrived in large numbers. According to the Guardian, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and Democratic election attorneys from the Elias Law Group sent hundreds of volunteers and lawyers to all 82 counties in Mississippi to oversee the final count.
Legal correspondence has also intensified. On Thursday, 5 November, the National Republican Senatorial Committee sent a letter to county election commissioners and circuit clerks demanding that they separate and preserve all affidavit ballots cast in the 3 November election. On the same day, Colom's legal counsel wrote to the state's 82 counties, opposing the segregation of accepted affidavit ballots from other paper ballots.
Affidavit ballots are the sworn-statement ballots that some voters cast on election day. Under Mississippi rules described by the Guardian, voters who cast affidavit ballots because they lacked a photo ID have five business days to visit their local circuit clerk's office. There they can present an acceptable photo ID or sign a religious objection affidavit. The deadline for that step, and the last day for mail-in ballots to arrive and be counted, is 10 November.
Recounts are also limited. Mississippi has no automatic recount law, so a recount can happen only if a court orders one in response to a lawsuit against a county or county election commission, filed by a political party or campaign. The state also has no system for challenging ballots statewide. Challenges must be brought county by county.
