Mississippi’s Senate count has become a dispute over how remaining ballots should be handled. Democrat Scott Colom leads Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith by 2,087 votes in the latest Decision Desk HQ tally, while lawyers for the two campaigns have sent competing instructions to county election officials.
The race remains uncalled. A narrow lead in an unfinished count does not establish the winner, and the campaigns’ letters are legal arguments rather than court rulings.
Latest Mississippi Senate results
Decision Desk HQ’s November 6 update at 3:29 a.m. EST (08:29 UTC; 09:29 CET) reports:
| Candidate | Party | Votes | Vote share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scott Colom | Democratic | 467,233 | 49.06% |
| Cindy Hyde-Smith | Republican | 465,146 | 48.84% |
| Ty Pinkins | Independent | 20,013 | 2.10% |
DDHQ lists more than 95% of estimated votes counted, with 952,392 votes reported. That is an estimate of counting progress, not a final certified total. Colom’s advantage is approximately 0.22 percentage points.
Polymarket puts Colom near 98% despite the close count
The Polymarket market for the Mississippi Senate winner strongly favours Colom. A November 6 snapshot supplied to Votendi shows the chart at 98.3% for Colom and 1.6% for Hyde-Smith, with approximately $5.83 million in total trading volume. A separate check at 13:41 UTC (14:41 CET) showed rounded headline odds of 98% and 2%, respectively.
Those figures describe traders’ expectations of the eventual winner, not the candidates’ shares of ballots counted. They also differ from the buy quotes displayed in the trading panel, which can reflect the bid–ask spread. Prices can change before the market resolves.
The contrast is striking: Colom holds a reported lead of only about 0.22 percentage points, while the market prices his victory as highly likely. That market assessment does not establish how the outstanding ballots will divide, settle the campaigns’ legal disagreement or substitute for a race call or official certification.
What Hyde-Smith’s lawyers are requesting
In a November 5 letter addressed to election commissioners and circuit clerks in all 82 Mississippi counties, Hyde-Smith’s lawyers demanded that affidavit ballots be kept separately from regular and absentee ballots. The request covers accepted, rejected, unresolved and cured affidavit ballots.
The lawyers also seek preservation of envelopes, eligibility decisions, cure records and records showing who handled election materials. Their stated purpose is to preserve evidence for possible ballot examinations or election challenges.
The letter expressly says implementation must not delay lawful counting, stop legally cast ballots from being counted or compromise ballot secrecy. The preservation request itself does not establish that any ballots were unlawfully cast.
Why Colom’s campaign objects
Colom’s lawyers argue that the requested separation goes beyond normal procedures, particularly for affidavit ballots that have already been reviewed and accepted. WLOX reports that the campaign’s response disputes the legal basis for keeping those accepted ballots separate and raises voter-privacy concerns.
The disagreement concerns the handling of ballots during and after eligibility review. Neither campaign’s letter determines the lawful outcome of that dispute.
Why November 10 matters
Affidavit ballots are Mississippi’s provisional ballots, used when a voter’s eligibility cannot be confirmed at the polling place. They require verification before they can be counted.
The Mississippi Secretary of State’s election guidance identifies two relevant November 10 deadlines. Mail-in absentee ballots must have been postmarked by Election Day, November 3, and reach circuit clerks by November 10. Voters who cast affidavit ballots because they forgot their voter ID have until November 10 to present acceptable photo identification to their circuit clerk.
Those deadlines help explain why counting continues after Election Day. The outstanding ballots still have to satisfy the applicable requirements, and their eventual number and candidate preferences will determine whether Colom’s lead holds.
For national totals and other outstanding contests, follow Votendi’s U.S. midterm live results.
Results snapshot: November 6, 2026, 08:29 UTC. Figures are unofficial and may change as additional eligible ballots are counted. Featured image: editorial illustration of ballot verification in Mississippi; not a photograph of an actual counting session.
