5:35 pm:
CNN CALLS IT FOR SCOTT COLOM! MISSISSIPPI IS BLUE!
5:18 pm:
Update 7. AP update 4:58 pm:
Colom +4,585, +0.5%.
Colom's increased lead came from Forest and Copiah counties, both now 99% counted.
5:11 pm:
Since AP specifically pointed to Lee and Jackson counties here are their numbers on them:
Total votes case Lee and Jackson combined, 60,425
Extrapolating from Lee 14,447 at 94% to 100% gives Pick-Another-Protein an additional 602 votes.
Extrapolation from Jackson 19,830 at 96% to 100% gives P-A-P an additional 826 votes.
A total of an expected 1,428 additional P-A-P votes.
In AP's 4:43 update Colom leads by 4,400. Subtracting 1,428 yields Colom a lead of +2,972. In short, Lee and Jackson counties don't come near overcoming Colom's current 4,400 lead.
There are also counties just in the screenshot above totaling 50,574 total votes cast in which Colom has immense leads, far in excess of P-A-P's leads in Lee and Jackson,
Update 6. AP no-call explanation
AP Decision Team updates
Nov. 11, 3:04 PM
More than week after Election Day, Colom leads Hyde-Smith by about 3,800 [4,400, 4:43 pm] votes, though Republican-leaning counties like Lee and Jackson have not yet released their final results. Further updates are expected on Thursday, Nov. 12. If Colom wins, Democrats will hold 55 seats in the Senate, and will have made the party’s largest midterm gain since 1986, during Ronald Reagan's second term.
2:56 pm:
Update 5. AP update 2:47 pm:
HISTORY IN THE MAKING; 99% OF BALLOTS COUNTED, COLOM LEAD GROWS TO 4,404, 49.2%-48.7%
12:15 pm:
Update 4. AP update 12:06 pm:
Colom +3,167, not nearly 4,000; Colom still 49.1%-48.8%, not "more than .3%".
12:04 pm:
New York Daily News:
Democrat Scott Colom on brink of winning Mississippi Senate race after big update
Democrat Scott Colom Wednesday was on the brink of wrapping up a historic win in the Mississippi Senate race after he extended his lead by gaining ground in a new batch of votes.
Colom increased his edge over Republican incumbent Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith to nearly 4,000 votes, or more than .3%, after he was expected to overwhelmingly win 817 approved provisional ballots from deep-blue Hinds County, which includes the city of Jackson.
Hinds County voters cast about 2,400 provisional ballots but officials rejected about two-thirds of them, a share that is much higher than in other Mississippi counties. There was no immediate explanation for the discrepancy.
Mississippi has no statewide count of outstanding ballots but it appears there are only handfuls of votes still to be counted by county officials, meaning Hyde-Smith has no realistic path to taking the lead.
11:58 am:
So I don't know what the fuck. The raw vote count hasn't moved one vote.
11:44 am:
Update 3. AP update 11:18 am
Hinds County, 60.8% Colom, is 97% Counted
But the raw vote remains at Colom +3,041; the percentages remain Colom 49.1%-48.8% and the total state vote percentage remains 98%. (?)
Update 2. AP update 9:23 am
Scott Colom +3,037. Noxubee County, total votes cast 4,348 +62.9 Colom.
8:39 am:
This makes me so angry. The three counties with the lowest percentages of votes counted and the last update in the vote count.
This is the third time Rankin County's vote totals have changed. In AP's 8:08 am update Rankin is Pick-Another-Protein +24.9, 52,612 total votes cast. At one time yesterday it was an even 53,000--and what are the odds of that?
Today also at 8:08 am Pearl River County's vote was updated. I don't remember if it was different previously. +47.2 for Pick-Another-Protein, 16,880 total votes cast. What are the random chances that two heavily PAP counties would be the only two with an update while the largest county, Hinds, and the county with the largest Colom majority, 60.8%, would not be updated since Nov. 6?
This is total bullshit. If Mississippi had counted Hinds County's vote Friday, or Monday, or Tuesday, this election would have been called and Scott Colom would be the Senator-elect.
No change in the basic numbers: Colom +2,990, 98% of vote counted.