Mississippi voters could send a Democrat to the U.S. Senate for the first time in decades, with Scott Colom holding a narrow lead over Republican incumbent Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith.
As of Thursday, Colom led Hyde-Smith by more than 1,100 votes, with nearly 1 million ballots counted.
In many states, a race this close would trigger an automatic recount. However, Mississippi has no law requiring automatic recounts in federal elections. Instead, a court would have to order one.
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The race remains too close to call, with as many as 3,500 mail-in ballots still outstanding, according to the Mississippi secretary of state's office.
Mississippi allows mail-in ballots to arrive after Election Day as long as they are postmarked by Election Day. However, not all outstanding ballots are necessarily expected to arrive, as some voters who requested ballots may not have returned them.
In addition to mail-in ballots, election officials must review provisional ballots, known in Mississippi as affidavit ballots.
Voters may cast affidavit ballots for several reasons, including failing to present identification at the polls. Those voters must provide the required identification to county election officials after Election Day for their ballots to count.
Other affidavit ballots may have been cast by voters listed as inactive on the state's voter rolls. Those ballots can be counted once officials confirm the voters' eligibility through the state's registration system, without requiring additional action from the voters.
Counties have until Nov. 13 to submit their certified election results to the Mississippi secretary of state's office, meaning an official winner may not be determined for several more days.
Mississippi has not elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate since 1982.
