Secretary of State Michael Watson releases election update

Secretary of State Michael Watson has shared an update on the 2026 general election in Mississippi.

In his statement, Secretary Watson said:

I wanted to take a minute to update everyone on the current status of our election process. Since Mississippi is a bottom-up state, circuit clerks and election commissioners run elections at the county level. While not required, 70 of the 82 counties have uploaded their unofficial results through the Statewide Election Management System (SEMS). Counties have 10 days from the date of the election to submit their certified results to our office, which is November 13.

Additionally, there are approximately 3,600 outstanding absentee-by-mail ballots that must be received within five business days and an unknown number of affidavit ballots that will be processed within the 10-day window counties have to certify their results. Until we have the certified results, the individual counties will be the best source of the latest and most up-to-date information.

The U.S. Senate Race between Republican Cindy Hyde Smith and Democrat Scott Colom is still to close to call.

WXXV News 25 will update you as the election process continues.