Razor-tight Mississippi Senate race sparks ballot battle - could there be a recount?

With 97% of the votes counted as of Friday, Democratic candidate Scott Colom is about 2,500 votes ahead of the incumbent Republican Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith.

Mississippi's Secretary of State Michael Watson said on Wednesday that 3,600 "absentee-by-mail ballots" were still to be counted. The state can accept these votes so long as they were postmarked by election day and are received by 10 November.

Watson said there are also an "unknown" number of provisional ballots, also known as affidavit ballots, to be counted. These are typically cast when a voter lacked the required identification to cast their vote. The deadline for voters to resolve any ID issues with provisional ballots, usually by providing acceptable photo identification, is also 10 November.