Mississippi election workers are counting ballots amid a tight race between Republican U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith and Democratic challenger Scott Colom. Follow this liveblog for the latest updates. See results in other races here

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Jackson County Begins Counting Affidavit Ballots After Delays

Jackson County Election Commissioner Danny Glaskox said his office just started counting affidavit ballots this morning due to delays with other ballots caused by an issue with the St. Martin Community Center precinct yesterday on Nov. 3.

Glaskox said the issues were caused by poll workers mistakenly operating machinery incorrectly. “One of our poll managers mistakenly pulled the memory stick out too quick,” Glaskox said, which contains all of the voting machines information. 

He said all issues were correct by 8:30 a.m. this morning and the only ballots left to be counted are now affidavit ballots. “There was a couple hundred of those ballots we had to scan, Glaskox said. “But we scanned those and as soon as I got them scanned I uploaded them to the state.” 

Glaskox said other precincts throughout Jackson County also experienced delays due to poll manager errors with operating voting equipment. “That printer that codes the ballot for them, there’s two plugs in the back. They will only go in one slot,” Glaskox said. “They weren’t plugging them all the way in and that was part of the problem.”

Amy Schafer

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Harrison Won’t Count Affidavits Until Nov. 10

Harrison County District 3 Election Commissioner Jennifer Smith says the county will not count affidavit ballots until Nov. 10. It is not clear how many affidavit ballots were cast in Harrison County.

Amy Schafer

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Elias Vows Legal Effort During Vote Counting

Democratic lawyer Marc E. Elias says his law firm is working to ensure Scott Colom wins as votes continue to be counted.

Ashton Pittman

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Colom Leads by 43 Votes

Democrat Scott Colom leads incumbent U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith by 43 votes, with more than 90% of the vote counted. Thousands of votes still remain to be counted across the state, including 9,000 in Hinds County. One big question is how many affidavit ballots voters cast statewide, which could be decisive and take days to count.

Read more: Democrat Scott Colom Leads Mississippi US Senate Race by 43 Votes Against Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith

Ashton Pittman

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The mission of the Mississippi Free Press, a new nonprofit journalism website and multimedia network that launched in March 2020, is to publish deep public-interest reporting into causes of and solutions to the social, political and structural challenges facing all Mississippians and their communities. Mississippians need to know each other across regions and share our challenges and solutions despite geographic and other differences. We are introducing Mississippians to each other through our deep accountability reporting and compelling people-focused storytelling, and by convening online and physical “solutions circles,” using our statewide networks to ensure inclusivity and representation.