Mississippi’s U.S. Senate race between Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith and Democrat Scott Colom remained uncalled Friday, with the candidates separated by fewer than 2,000 votes and no complete statewide count of remaining ballots^1,2.

Mississippi Today, citing The Associated Press, reported Thursday that Colom led 466,226 to 464,502, a margin of 1,764, with 96% of the vote counted². NPR said as of midday Friday fewer than 2,000 votes separated them¹.

The Colom campaign said late Tuesday it knew of more than 15,000 provisional ballots, which Mississippi calls affidavit ballots¹. State Republican Party Chair Mike Hurst said Thursday he thought about 20,000 ballots remained, including absentee ballots that can arrive through Nov. 10 if postmarked by Election Day^1,2.

Secretary of State Michael Watson, a Republican, said counties run their own elections and that even his office did not know how many provisionals were left¹. He said Thursday nearly 7,000 had been processed, with roughly 80% accepted, and that the 82 counties are not required to transmit certified results until next week¹.

NPR said Mississippi is among the slowest, most decentralized election systems in the country and that inactive voters must often use affidavit ballots rather than regular ones¹. Watson has said the extra time for affidavit voting is worth cleaner rolls¹.

Hurst said at a Thursday news conference that the race was far from over and that the party would fight to count only legally cast ballots². He declined to name counties he said still had large affidavit piles².

The National Republican Senatorial Committee sent letters asking clerks to preserve and set aside affidavit ballots². Jacquelyn Lopez, counsel for the Colom campaign, wrote that creating records linking accepted ballots to voters would violate Mississippi law².

Mississippi has no automatic recount; a recount would require a lawsuit against a county or election commission². Fair Fight Action said Democratic lawyers and volunteers were in all 82 counties to watch the remaining counts². What share of outstanding ballots will be accepted, and who they favor, is not yet established^1,2.