With two Senate seats hanging in the balance, it will be days or even weeks before either party will be able to declare victory.
asserted
party → hang → victory
The races in Mississippi and Alaska are still too close to call, with days left for officials to receive ballots.
asserted
officials → call → ballots
The outcome will determine the size of the Democrat majority in January, and both races could see legal challenges before the dust settles.
uncertain
dust → determine → challenges
While the Democrat candidates cling to narrow leads in both races, Republicans still have a path to victory in either race.
asserted
Republicans → cling → race
As of Friday, Democrat candidate Scott Colom held a 1,936-vote lead over incumbent Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith in Mississippi’s unexpectedly close Senate race.
asserted
Colom → hold → race
While 70 of the state’s 82 counties have submitted their unofficial results into the state system, officials still have time to receive mail-in ballots.
asserted
officials → submit → ballots
Ballots received by November 10 can be counted if they were postmarked on or before Election Day.
asserted
they → receive → Day
After that final deadline, officials have until November 13 to submit their certified results.
asserted
officials → have → results
County election clerks sent out a total of 122,590 absentee ballots for the 2026 midterms, according to the state.
uncertain
clerks → send → state
Mail-in ballots can be counted after Election Day thanks to a Supreme Court decision earlier this year stemming from a lawsuit involving Mississippi and the Republican National Committee.
asserted
ballots → mail → Mississippi
That could pave the way for Colom to add to his lead or Hyde-Smith to overtake the Democrat.
uncertain
Smith → pave → Democrat
Additionally, Watson said there are an “unknown number” of affidavit ballots that need to be processed by county election officials by November 13.
asserted
that → say → November
Some of these provisional ballots are likely to be rejected by election officials.
asserted
Some → reject → officials
An affidavit ballot in Mississippi is cast if the voter’s name is not in the poll book, an address has changed, the voter does not have an ID, or the voter has previously been marked as having voted by mail.
asserted
voter → cast → mail
The National Republican Senatorial Committee sent a letter Thursday to all county election officials demanding that they separate and secure all affidavit ballots they received.
asserted
they → send → ballots
“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,” said NRSC Regional Press Secretary Samantha Cantrell.
asserted
Cantrell → continue → Mississippians
Both Colom and Hyde-Smith have said they expect to prevail in the race.
asserted
they → say → race
“Our campaign is closely monitoring the remaining count,” the incumbent Republican’s campaign said Wednesday.
asserted
campaign → monitor → count
“We remain confident that when every legally cast vote is fully and accurately counted, Mississippians will have reelected Cindy Hyde-Smith.”
asserted
Mississippians → remain → Smith
The Alaska Senate race could take even longer to determine thanks to lengthy deadlines for election officials to receive absentee ballots and its ranked-choice voting system.
uncertain
officials → take → ballots
Democrat candidate Mary Peltola currently leads incumbent Senator Dan Sullivan by 637 votes.
asserted
Peltola → lead → votes
With counting continuing until November 18, there are estimated to be tens of thousands of ballots left to be counted.
asserted
counting → continue → ballots
The next vote drop will come on November 10 when Alaska’s Division of Elections updates the count with more early voting and absentee ballots tabulated.
asserted
Division → come → voting
After that, the deadline for domestic mail-in ballots to be collected is November 13, a day when the Division of Elections will issue another update on the count.
asserted
Division → mail → count
By November 18, a final official count will be issued, including mail-in ballots received from Alaskans living abroad.
asserted
count → issue → Alaskans
If neither Sullivan nor Peltola has surpassed 50% of the vote by that final update, then ranked-choice tabulation will kick in.
asserted
tabulation → surpass → update
Under ranked-choice voting, the votes of those who backed the last-place candidate will be transferred to their second choice.
asserted
who → rank → choice
The process is repeated until one candidate breaks 50%.
asserted
candidate → repeat → %
Sullivan’s campaign released a memo on Wednesday arguing that both the outstanding ballots left to be counted and the ranked-choice system will lead to him being re-elected.
asserted
him → release → Wednesday
A big chunk of what remains is absentee and early votes from Friday, October 30th through Monday, November 2nd, votes cast AFTER the bombshell New York Times story dropped.
asserted
story → remain → Monday
We are confident these votes will benefit Dan,” his campaign said.
asserted
campaign → benefit → Dan
Legal challenges could also follow a Sullivan loss following reports that top Democrat operatives recruited a retired teacher named Dan J. Sullivan to appear on the ballot in an effort to confuse voters.
uncertain
operatives → follow → voters
The Aporia
