Senate GOP’s campaign arm demands Mississippi election officials preserve affidavit ballots

The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) is demanding that Mississippi election officials preserve election documents and all affidavit ballots, typically called provisional ballots, taking the first step toward possible legal action in the widely-watched Senate race.

As of Thursday evening, the Senate race remains too close to call with Democrat Scott Colom leading Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R) by just under 2,000 votes, according to Decision Desk HQ.

In a letter sent to the election commissioners in all 82 Mississippi counties, attorneys for Hyde-Smith demand that county officials separate out the affidavit ballots, document their disposition and preserve “all associated materials.”

“These measures are necessary to ensure that each affidavit ballot’s eligibility for counting and ultimate disposition can be verified,” the letter reads.

Federal law already requires that election records be maintained in federal races for 22 months from the election.

Mail ballots in Mississippi can be received up to five days after the election if they are postmarked by Election Day. The state’s top election official said they are waiting to see whether the 3,600 outstanding ballots, mor ethan enough to potentially swing the race, arrive in time.

The counting process may also be drawn out because the state’s procedure for counting ballots is done at the county level , according to the secretary of state.

“Since Mississippi is a bottom-up state, circuit clerks and election commissioners run elections at the county level … counties have 10 days from the date of the election to submit their certified results to our office, which is November 13,” Secretary of State Michael Watson said in a statement Wednesday. “Until we have the certified results, the individual counties will be the best source of the latest and most up-to-date information.”

Even if the final margin finishes as close as it is now, Mississippi has no automatic recount provision or method for a candidate to request one.

In a statement, Colom’s campaign called the NRSC’s letter a “desperate stunt.”

“This desperate stunt from national Republicans is what you do when you know you’re about to lose a race,” the campaign said. “We’re confident that when every lawful ballot is counted, Scott Colom will be Mississippi’s next U.S. senator.”

A victory for Colom would be remarkable in deep-red Mississippi. A Democrat has not won a U.S. Senate seat in the Magnolia State since 1982, and the state has not had a Black senator since reconstruction.