Overview
- As of Thursday, Scott Colom holds a narrow lead of about 1,700 votes with roughly 96% of ballots reported while counties continue to process late-arriving absentee ballots and affidavit (provisional) ballots.
- Mississippi officials say about 3,600 absentee-by-mail ballots can arrive and be counted if postmarked by Election Day and an unknown number of affidavit ballots must be verified by the state’s five- to ten-day cure windows.
- There is no automatic recount in Mississippi for this U.S. Senate contest, so both campaigns have deployed lawyers and petitioned local officials to segregate and preserve provisional ballots ahead of likely legal challenges.
- Colom’s surge was fueled by viral short-form ads, targeted outside spending from Democratic groups and strong Black turnout, while independent Ty Pinkins’s roughly 20,000 votes have complicated how blocs of voters are being counted.
- What to watch next are county certification deadlines, absentee ballot cure windows and any court filings that could add or exclude provisional or late mail ballots and thereby determine the final outcome.