DeSoto Co. Mississippi still counting votes as Democrat Scott Colom defeats Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith

DESOTO CO., Miss. (WMC) - The DeSoto County, Mississippi, Elections Commission is still counting votes after a prolonged ballot-counting process.

According to the Associated Press, Democratic candidate Scott Colom has defeated incumbent Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith in Mississippi’s closely contested U.S. Senate race.

Colom’s victory gives Mississippi its first Black U.S. senator since post-Civil War Reconstruction.

Election commissioners in DeSoto County are currently hard at work. Around two dozen community members are in attendance to watch the process play out.

It’s a mix of feedback on when they will actually wrap up.

Action News 5 spoke with Mississippi State Senator Michael McLendon earlier Wednesday afternoon, who said it wouldn’t take long.

On the flip side, Kelly Jacobs with Indivisible DeSoto says it could take up until 9 p.m. Wednesday, estimating there are still around 1,200 ballots left to count.

Inside, commissioners are slowly moving through each precinct, announcing the number of unofficial votes, affidavit ballots, and any rejections.

Jacobs says it is taking a while to get final results because of issues on election day.

“What is new is that the public is seeing that people who went and stood in line for one hour, two hours or in the rain, their vote is not going to be counted because the poll manager didn’t sign their affidavit envelope, because the election commissioner did not order enough equipment, so they didn’t have any ballots, or they didn’t have any affidavit envelopes,” said Jacobs.

Jacobs said she estimates around 40% of affidavit ballots to be rejected.

“So, they’re going to count about 1,200 of them. That means that they’re going to open the envelope and then stick the contents into the counting machine. Then, I just heard from the deputy clerk that the 330 mailed in absentee ballots, those were already counted on election night,” said Jacobs.

According to the election commission, it will take as long as it takes.

After the announcement of Colom’s victory, many community members left the DeSoto County election commission.

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