What to know about recounts in Mississippi with razor-thin margin in Senate race

While razor-thin election margins in American politics typically spark anticipation of recounts, there is no such process in place in Mississippi, where the Senate race is currently within a margin of a few dozen votes as of Wednesday morning.

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 the secretary of state's office, candidates cannot request a recount, and a recount cannot be automatically triggered in Mississippi.

The office did share, however, that a candidate can perform "a ballot box exam" and examine ballot materials after the election is certified. If they see issues, they can file a legal challenge, the office said.

As of Wednesday night, Colom had 49% of the vote followed by Hyde-Smith who had 48.9% of the vote with 96% of the expected vote reporting.

Independent challenger Ty Pinkins held 2.1% of the vote

Colom, with 464,926 votes votes, had 1,138 more votes than Hyde-Smith, with 463,788. Pinkins had 19,934 votes.

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 Nov. 10, 2026. However, the ballots had to be postmarked on or before Election Day.

It is possible there are mail ballots or provisional ballots -- called "affidavit ballots" in Mississippi, which allow a resident to vote even if their address cannot be found in the poll book at their precinct-- still left to be counted, although it is unclear how many there may be. 

Colom's campaign manager said on Tuesday night that the campaign thinks there could be around 15,000 provisional ballots left to be counted; the office of the Mississippi Secretary of State told ABC News there is no definitive number they can give.

Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson said in a Wednesday afternoon update that there are around 3,600 outstanding mail ballots that could be received within the next five business days, and that there are "an unknown number of affidavit ballots that will be processed within the 10-day window counties have to certify their results."

The certification deadline is Nov. 13.

The slim margin comes as a shock in deep-red Mississippi, which voted for President Donald Trump with 61% of the vote in 2024 and elected Hyde-Smith to the Senate with 54% of the vote in 2020, two years after she took office by appointment in 2018.

Colom is a district attorney for four counties along the Mississippi-Alabama border and a former nominee to become a U.S. district judge. He would be Mississippi's first Black U.S. senator since Reconstruction.

Mississippi has not elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate since 1982.

President Donald Trump rallied with Hyde-Smith last month, attempting to shore up support for the incumbent candidate before the election.

"My opponent, Scott Colom, is the most radical Senate candidate to run for Mississippi, literally, in our lifetimes," Hyde-Smith said, speaking ahead of Trump at the rally.

Colom, speaking at a press conference ahead of the rally, said, "A lot of folks ain't gonna be able to make this rally because they can't afford the gas to get up here."