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Mississippi allows mail ballots to arrive up to five business days after the election

November 6, 2026

ABC News reports that Mississippi allows mail ballots to arrive up to five business days after the election, according to the Secretary of State's office, which sets that day as November 10, 2026. Mississippi has not elected a Democrat to the US Senate since 1982.

ABC News reports that Mississippi has not elected a Democrat to the US Senate since 1982. Mississippi doesn't have a set procedure in place which allows for a result to be automatically recounted even if it's tight or contested, BBC reports. Mississippi does not have automatic recounts or permit candidates to request a recount, AP News reports.

ABC News reports that Mississippi allows mail ballots to arrive up to five business days after the election, according to the Secretary of State's office, which sets that day as November 10, 2026. Mississippi is the only US state which does not have a set procedure in place to trigger a recount - and the pressure is on to declare a winner with the state's 13 November deadline for certification approaching, BBC reports. “[Mississippi] had been perceived as a deep-red state, but it really wasn’t a deep-red state. It was a state where people weren’t engaged in this process for a number of different reasons,” Williams said, The Hill reports. Mississippi has 23 public colleges and universities, ABC News reports. Mississippi has no automatic recount law, The Guardian reports.

The Guardian reports that in Mississippi, voters who cast affidavit ballots on election day because they don’t have photo IDs have five business days to visit their local circuit clerk’s office to present an acceptable photo ID, or sign a religious objection affidavit. On Election Day, most Mississippi voters cast their ballots in person, AP News reports. AP News reports that a voter may also have to cast a provisional ballot if their voter registration status is found to be inactive when they arrive at the polls. The state can accept these votes so long as they were postmarked by election day and are received by 10 November, BBC reports. According to ABC News, as the Democratic challenger Scott Colom and incumbent Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith remain neck-and-neck with 96% of the expected vote in, Mississippi's Secretary of State Office confirmed to ABC News that the state has no formal recount process.

According to ABC News, Hyde-Smith said, "My opponent, Scott Colom, is the most radical Senate candidate to run for Mississippi, literally, in our lifetimes". According to BBC, Ronald Rychlak said, "Mississippi law does give any candidate a right to examine ballot boxes and their contents within 12 days after the relevant canvass and examination".

ABC News reports that Mississippi has not elected a Democrat to the US Senate since 1982. Mississippi doesn't have a set procedure in place which allows for a result to be automatically recounted even if it's tight or contested, BBC reports. Mississippi does not have automatic recounts or permit candidates to request a recount, AP News reports. In Mississippi, absentee ballots must be postmarked by Election Day and received within five business days of the election, or November 10, to be counted—meaning the number of absentee votes can continue to climb after the election, AP News and AP report. According to AP News, on Thursday, Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson said that about 7,000 provisional ballots had been processed, of which about 80% had been accepted. The Hill reports that Colom benefited from a national political environment that favored Democrats, but he also gave voters in Mississippi a local target for their frustration over rising prices by turning Hyde-Smith’s suggestion that shoppers choose a cheaper protein into a pitch to “pick another senator.”

BBC reports that the result could mark the end of almost 40 years of Republican control over Mississippi's senate seats and will determine the size of the Democrats' majority in the upper house. FIRST MUSLIM SENATOR, FIRST BLACK FEMALE GOVERNOR: 2026 MIDTERM ELECTION RESULTS MAKE HISTORY But again, you can’t beat someone with no one, Fox News reports. Losing ruby-red Mississippi would be the final straw for Republicans after a midterm sweep by Democrats that turned Texas blue and saw a Democrat elected to the seat once held by the late South Carolina Republican senator Lindsey Graham, The Guardian reports. The concept of "Senate majority leader" has only been around since the early 20th century and is not mentioned in the Constitution, Fox News reports. Here’s the math: Let’s say Democrats do win Mississippi and Alaska, giving them 56 senators who caucus with the Democrats, Fox News reports. Both House and Senate Democrats and House and Senate Republicans will choose their leaders in the coming days. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., is running against Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, Fox News reports. The Democrats hold a narrow lead over the Republicans in the US Senate race in Mississippi, with both sides in a dispute over the counting of the remaining votes which could decide the outcome, BBC reports. First, Democrats must tap a nominee for speaker in their caucus, Fox News reports.

Still developing

BBC reports that the result could mark the end of almost 40 years of Republican control over Mississippi's senate seats and will determine the size of the Democrats' majority in the upper house. FIRST MUSLIM SENATOR, FIRST BLACK FEMALE GOVERNOR: 2026 MIDTERM ELECTION RESULTS MAKE HISTORY But again, you can’t beat someone with no one, Fox News reports. Losing ruby-red Mississippi would be the final straw for Republicans after a midterm sweep by Democrats that turned Texas blue and saw a Democrat elected to the seat once held by the late South Carolina Republican senator Lindsey Graham, The Guardian reports.

How settled the reporting is

Reported 94% · Contested 3% · Developing 3%

Sources

Toggle read the full reports of 7 of the 8 outlets counted on this event. The other 1 are counted from their headlines and opening sentences.