Election workers in Mississippi’s largest county are still in the process of counting affidavit ballots that could determine the outcome of Mississippi’s U.S. Senate race. While some Hinds County Election Commissioners were able to provide information on how many affidavit votes they reviewed, others are reviewing records precinct-by-precinct so they do not have counts yet, Hinds County District 2 Election Commissioner Bobbie M. Graves told the Mississippi Free Press. 

Each commissioner has to verify the voter registration of each affidavit voter in the state’s voter registration database, and they often have to call voters for more information to complete the verification process.

There are approximately 650 affidavit ballots that need to be verified and counted in District 5, Hinds County Election Commissioner Felicia McClinton told the Mississippi Free Press. Hinds County District 3 received 387 affidavit votes, election oversight volunteer and local lawyer June Hardwick told the Mississippi Free Press. Hardwick sat in on the District 3 count with Election Commissioner Jermal Clark.

Hinds County Election Commission Chair Yvonne Robinson Ford is one of the commissioners who is reviewing her district’s affidavit votes precinct-by-precinct, so there is not yet a complete count of affidavit votes in district 4. Ford has completed affidavit counts and verification calls for five of her 14 precincts as of Thursday night, totalling in 136 so far. 

The Mississippi Free Press submitted a Public Records Request to Hinds County on Thursday asking to physically view each precinct’s ballot accounting form in order to get a full count of absentee votes submitted in the county. Hinds County’s legal team is reviewing the request, Hinds County CIrcuit Court Clerk Zach Wallace told the Mississippi Free Press in a Thursday email. 

“They could, but … with all this, they’re not gonna update you all every day, daily on what we’re doing because we’re not gonna turn a number in until everyone is complete,” District 1 Commissioner Kidada Brown said on Wednesday.

Capital Bureau Reporter Grace E. Marion is covering the capital city, Jackson, as well as surrounding rural, urban and suburban areas in Hinds County, Madison County and Rankin County. She is a reporter and photojournalist with a passion for narrative writing and investigative reporting. Her work as a journalist has earned her coverage in publications like the Columbia Journalism Review, the Hechinger Report, and the Student Press Law Center. Grace is a member of the Investigative Reporters & Editors (IRE) and the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ).

Grace graduated from the University of Mississippi School of Journalism and New Media in 2022 with a degree in print and broadcast journalism, and from the University of California at Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism in 2024.