Votes are still being counted in Mississippi, in the tight senate race between Democrat Scott Colom and Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith.
Part of the delay in counting is because thousands of voters cast their ballots by affidavit rather than a traditional ballot.
Many voters said they were caught by surprise when they learned they would have to vote by affidavit because their registration was marked inactive.
“It was very disheartening to be labeled inactive,” voter Kevin Green, a Mississippi voter, told Scripps News this week. “And there was no real rationale behind it.”
Green said he has voted consistently since moving back to his home state of Mississippi in 2020. He said he received a notice from the NAACP telling him to look up his registration status in the days before the election. When he did, he was shocked to see his status was inactive. After speaking to the county clerk, he learned he would have to vote by affidavit because he had not responded to a mailer seeking to verify his address.
After successfully voting on Election Day by affidavit, Green posted about his experience on social media.
“We know there was some shady business going on there,” Green told Scripps News, pointing to the state’s history of disenfranchising Black voters. “It's really not a good look for our state when we've come so far, and the fact that this election is now so close speaks volumes about where we've come.”
Ralph Sandidge said he was disappointed to find out he had been purged from the voter rolls when he arrived to cast his ballot this year.
“I said, ‘Well, who did that? Under what authority?’” Sandidge said.
Sandidge said he was told he was no longer registered to vote because he had not voted in several elections.
Election experts told Scripps News the large number of inactive voters this election in Mississippi may be due in part to the state’s reliance on consumer data provided by Experian to maintain its voter rolls.
The state used the data to check voter addresses, but experts said the data may have contained errors affecting thousands of voters.
“Everything we've heard from the Secretary of State's office is that this was a good faith effort to keep the voter rolls accurate,” said Daniel Griffith, the senior director of policy at Secure Democracy. “Because it wasn't based on the best practices, and because the credit agency data is not reliable, it has had an unfortunate outcome for a lot of individuals.”
Thomas Minor said he encountered such an error when he attempted to vote in the primary election earlier this year. He told Scripps News the clerk told him his registration was inactivated because Experian data said he lived in another city. However, he told Scripps News, he has not moved for a decade. He was able to fix the error and vote normally during the general election on Tuesday but was dismayed to see so many other voters encounter the same problem he had months ago.
“It feels like somebody’s trying to pull strings somewhere and mess things up,” Minor said.
“We have no evidence that there is something sinister (happening), and election officials are very, very careful and very committed to protect elections and not disenfranchise voters,” said Thessalia Merivaki, a distinguished professor of government at Washington State University. “Sometimes your data are bad, and this is what happens.”
An Experian spokesperson said its company has not provided services to the state since 2025.
“The solution provided at that time consisted of supplemental address information and was not designed or intended to validate voter records,” said Scott Anderson, vice president of corporate communications for Experian, in a statement sent Friday to Scripps News. “Decisions regarding voter registration policies, procedures and record updates are made solely by election officials in accordance with applicable local, state and federal laws.”
The Mississippi Secretary of State’s Office did not respond to multiple voice messages and emails from Scripps News.
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In a Friday interview with Democracy Docket, Colom criticized the state for its use of Experian data and said voters experiencing ballot problems should contact his campaign for help.
Merivaki said she expects the Secretary of State’s office will investigate what went wrong.
In the meantime, election clerks across Mississippi are counting affidavit ballots to determine the winners of Tuesday’s election.
Voters who provided identification and voted by affidavit do not need to take any further action for their votes to be counted. Those who did not have ID with them have until Tuesday to rectify their affidavits.
The Secretary of State’s office posted a tracker online for voters who voted absentee or by affidavit to ensure their ballot is being counted.
Kevin Green said he’s happy to know his vote will count, but wants the process to change going forward.
“Obviously there are some gaps there, and we need to revisit that and ensure that we have effective policies that are in place,” he said.
