Mississippi Senate race heads to an extended vote count and possible ballot battle

The Mississippi Senate race may take days to resolve, as Democrat Scott Colom leads GOP Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith by just 65 votes in the current vote count.

And as more votes continue to be counted, all eyes are on an unknown number of ballots that could shift the result — and potentially lead to a very murky recount process.

Mississippi has not been a site of close vote counts and postelection drama in recent years. But Colom’s strong showing comes as Democrats swept several Senate races in red states across the country. While Democrats have a Senate majority without flipping Mississippi, it could be the party’s reddest pickup.

And it would mark another victory in a string of wins in the South, including in Texas and South Carolina, after years of struggle for Democrats in the region.

National operatives are descending on the state, with staff from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and Elias Law Group on the ground as of Wednesday to lead the Democratic effort to ensure votes are counted, according to a source familiar with the effort who was granted anonymity to discuss legal strategy.

A partner with the Elias Law Group, which has served as the Colom campaign’s lawyers, told NBC News they were heading to Mississippi to investigate the outstanding vote.

“We’re prepared to litigate, though we were prepared for this for months,” Colom, a local prosecutor, said at a news conference Wednesday morning. “We have an army of lawyers. We have local lawyers. We have everybody involved to make sure the process is followed according to the law.”

Colom and Hyde-Smith’s campaign manager, Jake Monssen, both said Wednesday that there are “thousands” of outstanding ballots. But the exact number remains unclear.

There appear to be around 6,000 mail ballots that were distributed but had not yet been returned as of Monday, according to data from the Mississippi secretary of state’s office, which did not return a request for comment. Mail ballots postmarked by Election Day can be counted in Mississippi if they are received by 5 p.m. on Nov. 10.

An unknown number of so-called affidavit ballots, also known as provisional ballots, are also outstanding. Those were issued to voters who do not have the proper ID or are not on the list of registered voters.

Mikell Bolden, the Mississippi Democratic Party executive director, told NBC News in a phone interview Wednesday that the party’s election hotline received around 2,000 calls on Tuesday from across the state, including from many voters who were told they had to cast affidavit ballots.

Voters said they were certain they were registered to vote, Bolden said, but were told they were not on the voter roll when they went to cast their ballots. And Bolden said those voters could not check their own registration status, because the Mississippi secretary of state’s website had crashed.

Bolden said the state party, Colom campaign and national party are working to reach out to voters via phone calls, text messages and robocalls to ensure those affected return their ballots or address issues related to their affidavit ballots, like showing the proper ID, by Nov. 10, which would allow them to be counted.

“Everything is on the line right now for this state,” Bolden said.

And it will be a weeklong scramble — county election officials must transmit the election results to the secretary of state by Nov. 13.

Republicans are also signaling that they are gearing up for a legal fight.

Hyde-Smith campaign manager Jake Monssen said in a statement Wednesday that the campaign is “closely monitoring the remaining count” and is confident the incumbent will prevail.

Joanna Rodriguez, a National Republican Senatorial Committee spokeswoman, said in a statement to NBC News, “As the democratic process continues to play out, we are committed to ensuring that every single lawful ballot is accurately counted and the voice of all Mississippians is heard.”

While the focus is on the outstanding ballots, there are also new questions about a potential recount.

Ben Griffith, a voting rights and election law attorney who teaches at the University of Mississippi, told NBC News the options for Colom or Hyde-Smith to challenge the results are limited.

There is no mechanism for an election to undergo a recount under Mississippi state law. There is also no mechanism for a U.S. Senate general election race to be otherwise contested according to the Mississippi election handbook and state law.

A candidate can challenge the results on a county-by-county basis, by filing their intent with a particular county clerk to “examine” the contents of any county’s ballot box. But with 82 counties across the state of Mississippi, and nine days until the canvassing must be complete, “that’s beyond the scope of feasibility,” Griffith said.

There are avenues for candidates in local elections across the state of Mississippi to challenge results of a particular race with the Mississippi state Legislature — but not the U.S. Senate race.