What we know
What we know: Why it's still too early to call the US Senate race in Mississippi
Compiled Nov 6
What we know
- Nearly 2,500 votes separate Democrat Scott Colom and Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith as of Friday
- The AP's outstanding vote estimate was around 44,000 votes Friday morning and revised to about 30,000 by 4:45 p.m. ET
- Mississippi has no central vote reporting system; AP journalists contact each of the state's 82 counties directly for results
- Mississippi requires photo ID at polls; voters without ID can cast provisional ballots counted only if ID is shown within five business days
- Mississippi has no automatic recounts and candidates cannot request one; recounts only happen by court order
- In Hinds County, a Democratic stronghold, Colom currently leads by about 47,000 votes with roughly 7% of ballots still uncounted
What we don’t know yet
- In some counties it is unclear how many, if any, absentee ballots have yet been counted
- It is not clear if all of Rankin County's outstanding provisional and mail ballots will be counted
- The AP's 30,000-vote outstanding estimate could change as additional details are gathered
Open questions
- How many absentee ballots remain uncounted in counties where the number is unclear?
- Will all of Rankin County's provisional and mail ballots ultimately be counted?
- When is the race likely to be called given the AP's shrinking outstanding vote estimate?
- Could a court order a recount in this race, and under what circumstances?
Drawn from the Associated Press report. “What we don’t know” lists only what the reporting itself flags as unresolved.