Mississippi, Alaska Senate races still undecided as legal fights loom

Mississippi, Alaska Senate races still undecided as legal fights loom.

Key points

• Democrats asserted the Senate on election night – part of a wave that left them with 54 seats to Republicans' 44.
• The Mississippi and Alaska Senate races are too close to call, and that could remain true for days or even weeks as ballots continue being counted.
• The Justice Department then sued to block certification should the incumbent lose.
• In Mississippi, Scott Colom, a district attorney, leads Sen.
• Mary Peltola, a Democrat and former congresswoman, led Sen.

Mississippi, Alaska Senate races still undecided as legal fights loom. María Luisa Paúl USA TODAY. Why Alaska and Mississippi Senate results could take days, even weeks.

Meanwhile, the Mississippi and Alaska Senate races are too close to call, and that could remain true for days or even weeks as ballots continue being counted.

Almost every major race of the midterms has been called. Not so in Mississippi and Alaska, where the ballots that will decide two Senate seats are still being sorted, scrutinized and, increasingly, litigated.

Neither will change who controls the chamber. Democrats asserted the Senate on election night – part of a wave that left them with 54 seats to Republicans' 44. What remains to be settled is the size of that majority and how much margin Democrats will have in the final two years of President Donald Trump's term.

In Mississippi, Scott Colom, a district attorney, leads Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, the Republican incumbent, by some 2, 500 votes – or less than a percentage point – according to the Associated Press. It has not called the race. A Democratic win would be the party's first Senate victory in Mississippi since 1982, and would create Colom the state's first Black senator since Reconstruction.

Much depends on ballots no one has fully tallied. Since they lacked photo ID or were missing from their precinct's rolls, thousands of voters cast affidavit ballots, the state's version of provisional ballots. Republicans estimate that roughly 20, 000 ballots remain outstanding, and voters have until Nov. 10 to resolve challenges with theirs.

So far, Colom has overperfomed among affidavit votes, even in counties Hyde-Smith carried with ease, according to a Mississippi Free Press analysis of the few counties that have finished counting them. But Republicans are bracing to contest them.

Hyde-Smith's campaign and the National Republican Senatorial Committee have asked authorities in all 82 counties to set the affidavit ballots aside and preserve them, the customary prelude to a court fight.

While stressing that "there's no election denying going on here.", in a news conference, Mississippi Republican Party Chair Michael Hurst remarked the party had dispatched more than 50 volunteer lawyers and observers to counting sites and vowed to "fight like hell" to ensure the law was followed.

Colom's campaign has pressed counties to refuse, with its lawyer arguing that pulling aside ballots already processed would itself violate state law. And since Mississippi permits challenges only county by county, any legal battle could scatter throughout dozens of courthouses. Legal battles loom in Alaska. In Alaska, the legal skirmishing began long before anyone voted.

Mary Peltola, a Democrat and former congresswoman, led Sen. Dan Sullivan, the Republican incumbent, by 637 votes with roughly three-quarters of ballots counted, according to the AP's latest tally. Hanging over the race for months has been a fourth candidate, a retired teacher who is additionally named Dan Sullivan. Republicans cautioned his name would confuse voters, but the Alaska Supreme Court declined to remove him.

For context, the Justice Department then sued to block certification should the incumbent lose. A federal judge dismissed the case two days before the Nov. Though the department has vowed to appeal, 3 election.

On Nov. 6, Peltola's campaign opened a front of its own. The main group supporting her sued the state Division of Elections for the names of voters whose absentee ballots have so far been rejected, saying it wants to keep her supporters from being wrongly disenfranchised.

In practice, the state has refused, arguing that the records are preliminary and long kept confidential, and that releasing them now could slow the count. "The Division has protected this information for years and will ask the court to protect it too, " the state Department of Law remarked in an official note, according to Reuters.

Alaska's final answer is still more than a week away. Absentee ballots can arrive through Nov. Since no candidate has cleared 50%, 18, the same day the state expects to run its ranked-choice tabulation. That count will redistribute the votes of trailing candidates, including the other Dan Sullivan. Share your feedback to support improve our site!

For now, mississippi, Alaska Senate races still undecided as legal fights loom remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.