Senate races in Alaska and Mississippi remain extremely close, with vote counting still underway days after the midterm elections.
In Mississippi, where 95.6% of ballots had been counted by Thursday morning, Democrat Scott Colom held a lead of 1,138 votes over Republican incumbent Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith. Colom had 464,926 votes to Hyde-Smith’s 463,788.
Alaska’s contest was even tighter. Former Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola led Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan by 637 votes, with roughly a quarter of the state’s ballots still uncounted.
If that narrow margin holds, the votes cast for another candidate named Dan Sullivan could become a major part of the post-election debate. Daniel J. Sullivan, a retired teacher who entered the race in May, is under investigation by the Justice Department, which opened a probe in July.
A report in October said Daniel J. Sullivan had met with Democratic operatives and members of Peltola’s campaign staff, who allegedly encouraged him to run. Peltola has denied involvement.
One voter, interviewed after voting Tuesday, said he had not noticed that two candidates named Dan Sullivan were on the ballot. He said he meant to vote for the incumbent and may have chosen the other candidate by mistake.
By Thursday morning, Daniel J. Sullivan had received 3,600 votes—more than five times the 637-vote gap between the leading candidates.
Alaska uses ranked-choice voting. If no candidate receives more than half the vote, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated, and ballots for that candidate are transferred to voters’ next choices.
President Donald Trump called for Daniel J. Sullivan’s votes to be added to the incumbent’s total, arguing that this would give the election a fair outcome. Alaska’s governor has also ordered an investigation into the reported effort to recruit a second Dan Sullivan.
In Mississippi, election officials are waiting for 3,600 mail-in ballots. State rules allow ballots to be counted if they arrive within five business days of Election Day and were postmarked by Election Day or earlier. NBC News’ Decision Desk estimates that about 45,000 ballots remain to be counted.
Mississippi has no formal recount process, raising the possibility of a court battle over the result. Colom said Wednesday that his campaign was preparing to defend the election process and had lawyers ready if needed.
Hyde-Smith’s campaign said it was monitoring the remaining count and remained confident she would win once all legally cast ballots were counted.
