Democrat Scott Colom leads by 1,936 votes as Mississippi Senate race remains undecided

Democrat Scott Colom led Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith by 1,936 votes in Mississippi's unresolved U.S. Senate race, according to The Guardian's 11:56 a.m. ET update. Associated Press figures reported in that update put Colom at 466,959 votes and Hyde-Smith at 465,023.

The margin is a lead in the ongoing count. An earlier Guardian update had Colom, a district attorney, ahead by a little more than 1,800 votes with 96% counted. At that point, the Associated Press had not called the contest.

Ballots still outstanding

Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson said Thursday night that 6,936 affidavit ballots had been processed, with roughly 80% accepted, The Guardian reported. He said roughly 3,300 absentee mail-in ballots were still outstanding.

NPR reported that a large number of provisional ballots, called affidavit ballots in Mississippi, were taking time to count. Its report put the gap between the top two candidates at fewer than 2,000 votes and listed Mississippi and Alaska as the two outstanding Senate races.

When a result could be available

According to The Guardian, Mississippi allows mail-in ballots to be counted if they are postmarked by the election and received within five business days of it. The outlet reported that a final Senate result might not be available until early the following week.