Less than 2,000 votes separated the Senate candidates in Mississippi on Thursday, prompting a slew of lawyers, campaign operatives and legal observers to descend on county election offices to watch officials count votes in the race between Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith and her challenger, Scott Colom. If he wins, Mr. Colom, a Democratic district attorney, would be the state’s first black senator since Reconstruction. As of Thursday afternoon, she had a 1,813-vote lead over Hyde-Smith, a Republican serving her first term. In an election in which Democrats broke conservative strongholds to win majorities in the House and Senate, Mississippi and Alaska are the only remaining states where the Senate elections still do not have a clear winner. Republicans. Scott Colom, a Democratic district attorney, in Jackson, Mississippi, on Thursday. Credit…Rory Doyle for The New York Times “I’m glad the country is starting to see what Mississippi values are like and what Mississippi’s potential is,” Colom said, while speaking to reporters in Jackson. On social media, Hyde-Smith’s campaign said she would remain in the Senate, as “we believe there are thousands of votes left to be counted from dozens of Republican counties, and we are confident those votes will bolster her path to victory.” The outcome of the race appears to hinge on what the state says is an unknown number of affidavit ballots cast by voters who were listed as inactive or without proper identification. On Thursday, Secretary of State Michael Watson said about 3,300 absentee mail-in ballots were still outstanding. To count, they must be received within five business days from November 3. He did not provide a number of uncounted affidavit ballots, but said 6,936 affidavit ballots had been processed. The deadline for counties to certify their election results to the state is Nov. 13. Unlike most states, Mississippi law does not allow a recount of votes in a state election. In Jackson, the state capital, on Thursday, lawyers, reporters, poll watchers and, at one point, Mr. Colom’s wife, milled about tables in the cramped headquarters of the Hinds County Election Commission. Commission members had been voting since 7 a.m., working steadily but failing to acknowledge the intense national scrutiny. “I hope they put a spring in his step,” said June Hardwick, a lawyer who supported Colom’s campaign. Jermal Clark, one of the commissioners, said they had to make sure they were being thorough and following the law. “For me everything is going well,” he said. “It’s just congested.” The Republicans were taking no risks. On Thursday, Republican lawyers wrote to election commissioners to demand “the immediate separation, safe custody and preservation of all affidavit ballots.” Mr. Colom’s legal team responded with its own letter, calling it a request for “illegal and extraordinary measures” and warning that it risked leading to illegal voter identification. Mike Hurst, chairman of the Mississippi Republican Party and general counsel of the Republican National Committee, said lawyers aligned with national Republicans and Ms. Hyde-Smith’s campaign “will be ready, if necessary, to take advantage of all legal options at our disposal, if there is evidence that the law has been Republican Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith speaks to guests at her election night watch party on Tuesday in Flowood, Mississippi. Credit…Sarah Warnock/USA Today Network, via Reuters“Never we had seen this before in Mississippi; we’ve never seen this volume of affidavit ballots in this state,” Hurst said. She added, “This race is far from over.” Some Mississippi organizers said it was possible that some of that increase in affidavit ballots could be traced back to last July, when the secretary of state’s office announced it would use data from Experian, the credit reporting agency, to help maintain the state’s voter rolls. As part of that change, registered voters identified with a new address were labeled “inactive” until they returned a confirmation card with their new address. Anyone who showed up to vote this year and was marked “inactive” had to fill out an affidavit ballot. Cassandra Welchlin, executive director of the Mississippi Black Women’s Roundtable, said her organization was helping organize trips for students to get to the courthouse to make sure their ballot was counted and would release ads reminding voters to follow up on their returns. sworn ballots and mail-in ballots. “Is it a little stressful? Yes,” Ms. Welchlin said. “Because we want to make sure that every vote is counted.” Colom, a district attorney with deep roots in the state, mounted a relentless campaign, energizing the state’s black voters and persuading white Democrats and disenchanted conservatives to embrace his “Mississippi Matters” message. Poll watchers watch the vote count at the Hinds County Election Commission in Jackson, Mississippi. Hyde-Smith received more than a million of dollars during the last leg of the campaign from national groups. President Trump also held a rally in Corinth in honor of Hyde-Smith and urged Republicans to vote. Colom used Hyde-Smith’s words against him, making a campaign ad with his suggestion that voters could choose alternative proteins as meat prices rose. “Elect another senator” became his campaign slogan in the final days before the election. Jimmie E. Gates contributed reporting from Jackson, Mississippi.
