Democratic and Republican lawyers and groups trade sharp legal letters about procedures for counting ballots in tight race
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Democrat Scott Colom is on the verge of winning a Senate seat in Mississippi in a stunning upset, but ballots are still being counted in a close race where Colom holds a lead of just under 2,000 votes over Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith. Losing ruby-red Mississippi would be the final straw for Republicans after a midterm sweep by Democrats that turned Texas and South Carolina blue.
A possible legal fight is also brewing, as both sides trade sharp legal letters about the procedures for counting remaining ballots. National voting groups and attorneys have descended upon the magnolia state, joining the local groups that worked to mobilize voters. Democratic and Republican groups, including Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) and Democratic election attorneys from the Elias Law Group, have deployed hundreds of volunteers and lawyers to all the state’s 82 counties to oversee the final rounds of counting.
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. They have until 10 November to do so, which is also the last day for mail-in ballots to arrive and be counted.
Mississippi has no automatic recount law. A recount can only happen if ordered by a court in response to a lawsuit against a county or county election commission from a political party or campaign. Mississippi law does not establish a system for challenging ballots on a statewide scale, so the process would have to be county-by-county basis.
“Mississippians did their part. Now election officials must do theirs,” Nsombi Lambright-Haynes, executive director of One Voice, a local civic organization said in a statement. “Voters who followed the rules and were still turned away, moved to an affidavit ballot, or left off the rolls through no fault of their own deserve answers and action. We will not let administrative failures erase the voices of the people.”
On Thursday, the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), which represents Hyde-Smith, sent a letter to county election commissioners and circuit clerks in the state, demanding that they separate and preserve all affidavit ballots cast in the 3 November general election.
“As the democratic process continues to play out, we are committed to ensuring that every single lawful ballot is accurately counted and the voices of all Mississippians are heard,” NRSC’s ergional press secretary, Samantha Cantrell, said in a statement.
Colom’s campaign manager, Gerard Henderson, called the NRSC’s letter a “desperate stunt” in a statement.
“We’re confident that when every lawful ballot is counted, Scott Colom will be Mississippi’s next U.S. senator,” he said.
Colom’s legal counsel sent a letter to the 82 counties, their election commissioners and their circuit clerks on Thursday, too. That letter said that the demands “have no basis in Mississippi law, and if you depart from ordinary election procedures as you have been asked to do, you will violate Mississippi voters’ rights and Mississippi election law”.
“Notwithstanding Hyde-Smith’s letter, you should therefore do as you are legally obligated to do: continue conducting this election using ordinary, lawful procedures,” the letter reads. “Do not segregate accepted affidavit ballots from other paper ballots. And certainly do not do anything that would allow a particular ballot to be traced to a particular voter, in violation of the “fundamental principle of the right to cast a secret ballot.”
On Friday, the NAACP sent its own letter to county election commissions in the state, calling on election officials to “strictly adhere to state law during the post-election ballot counting and certification process”.
“Every voter in Mississippi deserves to have their vote counted strictly according to the law,” Derrick Johnson, the NAACP’s president and CEO, said in a statement. “The NAACP is on the ground monitoring every stage of this post-election process in every corner of the State. We will be watching closely to ensure election commissioners are permitted to follow every legal procedure and every ballot is accounted for free from intimidation and threats.”
Mike Hurst, the chair of the Mississippi Republican party and general counsel of the Republican National Committee, addressed reporters in a press conference outside the Hinds county courthouse in Jackson on Thursday afternoon. He said that there could be approximately 20,000 outstanding ballots left to be counted.
While many have suggested that those ballots would likely only further boost Colom’s lead over Hyde-Smith, Hurst said: “A significant number of these, we believe, are in and remain in Republican leaning districts, precincts and counties.
“We are firm in our conviction that if the law is and was followed, that Mississippians will have spoken clearly and unequivocally and that Senator Hyde-Smith will be re-elected to another term to represent the great state of Mississippi,” Hurst said.
