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What’s Happening in Mississippi

How the count in the close Senate race proceeds

Joyce Vance Nov 5

Mississippi Democratic Senate candidate Scott Colom, who surprised the country Tuesday night by running a very tight race and then pulling narrowly into the lead, looks to be on track to be the state’s next senator. His campaign manager took to Twitter this morning to announce: “Good morning from Mississippi! Our lead continues to grow, and we're now up by roughly 1,100 votes! We're confident Scott's lead will continue to grow as the remaining votes are counted. We're staying focused and protecting the integrity of our election.” If Colom is in fact the victor, he will be Mississippi’s first Black senator since Reconstruction.

What happened is simple: Mississippians turned out to vote. They did their job. Now, the important work ahead is to make sure that every vote gets counted. The campaign has hundreds of volunteers and local lawyers going into county meetings across all 82 counties. Every meeting will have eyes on it to help ensure that no eligible voter’s ballot gets thrown out. It’s democracy in action.

As we’ve discussed previously, there is no recount provision under Mississippi law. What’s at stake here are affidavit (provisional) ballots and mailed-in ballots postmarked by Election Day and received within the five following business days. According to Mississippi’s Republican secretary of state, Michael Watson, there are “approximately 3,600 outstanding absentee-by-mail ballots that must be received within five business days and an unknown number of affidavit ballots that will be processed within the 10-day window counties have to certify their results.”

Affidavit ballots include ballots cast by people who did not have an acceptable form of ID with them when they went to the polls. They were able to vote provisionally, but must return with a form of ID that is acceptable under Mississippi law within five business days for their ballot to be counted. That gives them until Tuesday, November 10. There is also a 24-hour absentee ballot cure form process for absentee ballots that are rejected for reasons like a failed signature match, and that could come into play as the count proceeds.

Pollster Nate Silver observed: “Looking pretty likely this is going to happen for him unless there’s some unknown source of Hyde-Smith votes. Mississippi doesn’t have automatic recounts either, although they usually wouldn’t flip a 1,138-vote margin anyway.”

Colom continues to display the grace and sense of humor that became his hallmark in the final weeks of the campaign. You can easily see why experienced prosecutors make good candidates: they know how to talk to people. And once he gets to the Senate, his deep, practical understanding of the importance of the rule of law from that work will help fix what has been broken in our country.

Colom had this to say when his opponent, incumbent Mississippi senator Cindy Hyde-Smith, “all but declared” victory on election night.

“Bless her heart” was the response. I think we’re going to enjoy having Colom in the Senate—a breath of fresh air from Mississippi, and the high note of Tuesday night’s message from voters to the country: The South is in play. Don’t count us out.

If you’re one of the many new subscribers to Civil Discourse who joined us during the election, welcome! I’m glad you’ve found us. If you’re not already a subscriber, sign up today. You can do that for free or as a supporting member of this community, where we’re committed to keeping the Republic. We’ve got work ahead of us.

We’re in this together,

Joyce