Mississippi Senate Race: Colom's Lead Grows to 1,813 Votes in the New AP Count, Still Too Early to Call
Three days after Election Day, Mississippi's Senate race is still uncalled. The Associated Press's latest tally puts Scott Colom ahead of Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith by 1,813 votes, with affidavit and mail ballots still deciding the outcome and a November 13 certification deadline ahead.
Mississippi's United States Senate race remained too early to call on Friday morning, with Democrat Scott Colom leading Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith by 1,813 votes in the Associated Press's latest count. The AP tally, updated as this cycle was produced, showed Colom with 466,775 votes to Hyde-Smith's 464,962, with 99.83 percent of precincts reporting - 1,733 of 1,736 - and an estimated 95.65 percent of the vote counted.
The margin has widened in steps since the first overnight count put the two candidates 43 votes apart early Wednesday. It stood at 65 votes in the AP count this station reported Wednesday afternoon and at 1,138 by Wednesday evening. Decision Desk HQ's totals, reported by the Clarion Ledger, are close to the AP's: Colom at 466,735 votes (49.04 percent), Hyde-Smith at 464,902 (48.85 percent), and independent Ty Pinkins at 20,044 (2.11 percent) - a third-candidate total many times larger than the margin between the leaders.
What remains is a defined pool of ballots and a defined calendar. About 3,600 mail ballots were outstanding as of Wednesday, and mail ballots postmarked by Election Day can still arrive through November 10. Voters who cast affidavit ballots - typically because they did not present an acceptable photo ID or were marked inactive on the rolls - must verify their identities within five business days, also by November 10, for those ballots to count. Counties then have until November 13 to submit certified results.
Mississippi also offers no safety valve most close races have: it is the only state in the country without a recount provision in its laws, according to the Clarion Ledger, so a recount could come only through a court order. With no runoff in a general election, whoever finishes ahead when the count is certified takes the seat - and with it, a vote in a Senate the Democrats have already won. Neither campaign had been declared the winner as of Friday morning, and the AP's call status remains Too Early to Call.
