Mississippi Senate race called for Democrat after 230,000 voters flagged

Approximately 230,000 registered voters in Mississippi were classified as inactive by Election Day in 2026, a figure representing more than 10% of the state's total voter registration. The U.S. Senate race in the state was called for Democratic candidate Scott Colom on Wednesday, November 11. This decision came after a prolonged effort by state officials to review voter eligibility using data from a private credit reporting company.

Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson launched the voter roll cleanup effort in 2025. Watson utilized information purchased from Experian, a private credit-reporting firm, to update registration records. Experian's data relied on records from creditors and lenders. The company warned that its information could be inaccurate because it often included address changes resulting from cosigned loans, shared utility bills, or identity theft.

Voters flagged as inactive faced additional hurdles at the polls. Instead of casting standard ballots, these citizens were required to complete affidavits. Their votes became subject to extra scrutiny and could be rejected for clerical errors. Common reasons for rejection included missing telephone numbers, missing signatures, or submitting ballots without a poll manager's signature.

As of Monday, November 9, Mississippi officials had processed 14,239 affidavit ballots. Approximately 23% of those ballots were rejected. That total equates to more than 3,200 discarded ballots. At the time of the count, Colom led Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith by 2,500 votes. The narrow margin meant that the discarded ballots could have altered the final outcome of the race.

More than half of the rejected ballots were thrown out due to missing signatures or because they were cast in the wrong polling precinct. Analysis showed that ZIP codes with higher proportions of Black residents were more likely to be flagged for address changes than districts with higher proportions of white residents. Local news outlets reported cases where senior citizens and combat veterans were denied the right to have their votes counted.

The situation highlighted a contrast in how states handle voter data. Nevada became a founding member of the Electronic Registration Information Center, or ERIC, in 2012 under Republican Governor Brian Sandoval. ERIC is a bipartisan nonprofit that uses government data sources to improve the accuracy of voter rolls. By 2021, 31 states were members of the organization. Since 2023, eight Republican-led states have left ERIC following a conservative blog post that described the organization as part of a liberal plot.

In Nevada, the Trump administration suggested in 2026 that nearly 16,000 noncitizens were registered to vote. When pressed for evidence, the administration reduced that number to 185 individuals. State officials investigated the claims and determined that all 185 were citizens. The Mississippi episode demonstrated the impact of using commercial data for government election processes.