JACKSON, Mississippi — Two deadlines fall Tuesday in the uncalled Mississippi Senate race. County clerks have until 5 p.m. Central to receive timely postmarked absentee ballots, and voters who cast provisional ballots because they lacked photo identification have until the same hour to resolve the ID issue.
The NAACP urged election officials at a Sunday news conference in Jackson to count every eligible ballot. In a statement issued Monday, the group said its volunteers and members were monitoring the process in all 82 counties and would stay through certification. It called for election workers to be allowed to finish the count without intimidation or interference.
The Associated Press had yet to call the race Monday morning. Its unofficial tally, updated at 5:02 p.m. Central on Nov. 6, showed Democrat Scott Colom with 467,930 votes and Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith with 465,356, a margin of 2,574. Independent candidate Ty Pinkins had 20,028 votes.
Which ballots can still count in the Mississippi Senate race
Under the Mississippi secretary of state’s election calendar, mailed absentee ballots must have been postmarked by Election Day, Nov. 3, and reach the county circuit clerk by Tuesday’s deadline. Voters who used an affidavit ballot because they lacked acceptable photo ID can return to the clerk’s office by the same deadline to show qualifying identification or obtain a free Mississippi voter ID card.
Affidavit ballots are Mississippi’s provisional ballots. Voters can also use them when their names do not appear in the poll book. County election commissioners review those ballots to determine whether they can be counted.
Secretary of State Michael Watson reported Sunday that counties had processed 12,767 affidavit ballots and accepted about 77% of them. He said just over 2,800 mailed absentee ballots were still outstanding.
The campaigns have clashed over how counties should handle affidavit ballots. Hyde-Smith’s lawyers asked county officials Thursday to keep those ballots separate from other ballots so their eligibility and handling could be checked. Colom’s lawyers argued that keeping accepted affidavit ballots separate would depart from state procedures and threaten voter privacy.
County election commissions must submit their certified returns to the secretary of state by Friday, Nov. 13. The state calendar lists Dec. 3 for the secretary of state to declare the general election results.
