Mississippi’s edge-of-the-seat Senate race will come into focus this week as Democrat Scott Colom maintains his lead over Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R) on Monday morning, up by 2,574 votes in the unofficial tally, according to the Associated Press.
Tuesday is the deadline for counting provisional ballots, known in Mississippi as affidavit ballots, which are required if there is any question about a voter’s status at the polling place. Tuesday is also the deadline for receiving absentee ballots by mail, as long as they were postmarked by Election Day.
All 82 counties have until Friday to certify their results.
Mississippi has no provision for automatic vote recounts in close races, so a loser who wants to contest an outcome must wait until results are in and then file a lawsuit. That means any challenge to the results would most likely come after Friday’s certification.
The trends have been in Colom’s favor. The highest number of outstanding votes Monday were in Hinds County, a blue stronghold around the state capital of Jackson, with another chunk remaining in nearby Holmes County, which is even bluer.
Michael Watson (R), the secretary of state, said on social media Sunday that there were slightly more than 2,800 absentee ballots still out. About 12,767 outstanding affidavit ballots had been processed, Watson said, and about 77 percent were accepted.
Campaign volunteers have been scrambling to make sure voters address the mistakes that left their ballots in limbo.
Armies of lawyers and volunteers for both sides continued to monitor the vote count across the state’s 82 counties.
Colom has continued to hold public events and make appearances around the state, staging a virtual rally Sunday with Georgia Democrat Stacey Abrams and entertainers Kerry Washington and Lance Bass.
Hyde-Smith has kept a low profile and made few public statements. “Thousands of votes remain to be tabulated, and we will stay diligent until every legitimate vote has been counted,” her campaign manager, Jake Monssen, said Monday via text message.
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