Legal disputes intensify as Mississippi Senate count remains too close to call

Democrat Scott Colom is leading Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith by just under 2,000 votes in Mississippi’s Senate race, a result that could give Democrats a striking win in a strongly Republican state. As counting continues, political groups and lawyers are disputing how officials should handle remaining ballots, raising the prospect of court challenges.

Mississippi voters who used affidavit ballots because they lacked photo identification have until 10 November to provide an acceptable ID or submit a religious objection affidavit; that is also the deadline for mail-in ballots to arrive. The NRSC has asked officials to separate and preserve affidavit ballots, while Colom’s campaign says state law requires ordinary counting procedures and protection of ballot secrecy. Mississippi has no automatic recount: a court must order one following a lawsuit, which would have to proceed county by county.