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WATER VALLEY – Yalobusha County voters turned out in unusually large numbers for last week’s midterm election, with nearly 60 percent of registered voters casting ballots in an election that saw Democrat Scott Colom narrowly carry the county in a closely contested U.S. Senate race.
According to the county’s unofficial election results, 4,819 of Yalobusha County’s 8,073 registered voters participated in the Nov. 3 election, representing a turnout of 59.69 percent. The turnout was particularly noteworthy for a midterm election. Circuit Clerk Daryl Burney had estimated just days before the election that midterm participation in Yalobusha County historically averages around 40 percent.
The county’s results reflected the tight U.S. Senate contest across Mississippi, where Colom and Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith remained separated by only a few thousand votes Monday as election officials continued counting ballots.
In Yalobusha County, Colom received 2,386 votes to Hyde-Smith’s 2,297, a margin of just 89 votes. Independent candidate Ty Pinkins received 128 votes.
Colom carried five of the county’s 12 precincts: Beat One North, Beat One South, Beat Two Water Valley, Beat Four Coffeeville and Beat Four Oakland.
His largest margins came in Beat Two Water Valley, where he defeated Hyde-Smith 619 to 263, and Beat Four Coffeeville, where he received 283 votes to Hyde-Smith’s 58.
Other precincts were much closer. Colom carried Beat One North 357 to 343, Beat One South 150 to 144 and Beat Four Oakland 317 to 302.
Hyde-Smith carried the remaining seven precincts, including Beat Three North West and Beat Three Sylva Rena, where she posted substantial margins. In Scuna-Vann’s Mill North, she edged Colom by a single vote, 24 to 23.
Statewide Race Remains Unsettled
The narrow result in Yalobusha County mirrored the statewide U.S. Senate contest, which remained too close to call Tuesday, one week after Election Day.
As of noon Tuesday, Nov. 10, Democrat Scott Colom led Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith by 2,575 votes, with 468,020 votes to Hyde-Smith’s 465,445. Independent candidate Ty Pinkins had received just over 20,000 votes.
Colom held approximately 49.1 percent of the vote, compared to Hyde-Smith’s 48.8 percent, with more than 950,000 votes counted statewide.
Election officials continued reviewing thousands of affidavit ballots and processing absentee ballots that had not been included in earlier returns.
Secretary of State Michael Watson reported that 15,547 affidavit ballots had been processed, with approximately 76 percent accepted. Another 2,578 mail-in absentee ballots remained outstanding in the latest report.
Tuesday marked an important deadline in the counting process. Absentee ballots postmarked by Election Day had to arrive by Nov. 10 to be counted. Voters who cast affidavit ballots because they lacked proper photo identification also had until 5 p.m. Tuesday to present acceptable identification at their county circuit clerk’s office.
Attention remained focused on Hinds County, one of the state’s largest Democratic strongholds, where election officials were completing their review of affidavit ballots. County officials expected to release updated results Wednesday after a resolution board reviewed the ballots recommended for acceptance.
Election officials in Mississippi’s 82 counties have until Friday, Nov. 13, to certify their results.
The close contest has also drawn scrutiny from both campaigns, with attorneys and observers monitoring the ballot-counting process.
Mississippi does not provide for an automatic recount in a statewide election. A candidate seeking a recount would have to pursue a legal challenge and obtain a court order.
The race has attracted national attention because Mississippi has not elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate since John Stennis won reelection in 1982.
In Yalobusha County, a total of 92 affidavit ballots were cast during the Nov. 3 election. County election officials approved 56 affidavit ballots and rejected 36.
According to a list of rejected ballots, the most common reasons were voters not appearing in their precinct poll books and voters not being registered. Those two categories accounted for 26 of the 36 rejections.
Other reasons included voters who had moved out of the county, registered after the deadline or failed to properly complete affidavit envelopes. Two ballots were rejected because the voters had been removed from the registration rolls, including one involving a disenfranchising crime. One rejection was marked as a voter appearing at the wrong precinct.
County results
In Yalobusha County, Democratic incumbent Bennie G. Thompson received 2,346 votes in the county, narrowly defeating Republican Ron Eller, who received 2,334. Independent Bennie Foster received 114 votes. The 12-vote margin was among the closest countywide contests on the ballot. Thompson won reelection by a considerably larger margin across the congressional district.
Another close race was for Mississippi Court of Appeals District 1, Position 1, where incumbent Judge John Weddle received 2,120 votes in Yalobusha County to 2,106 for challenger Derek Dewayne Hopson Jr., a margin of only 14 votes.
In the contested race for Chancery Court District 3, Place 1, Ginger M. Miller led Jay Westfaul 2,491 to 1,759 in the county. Miller won the race.
Several other judicial positions were uncontested, along with two school board races. Mitchell Steen was unopposed for Coffeeville School Board District 5, while Tonya Eubanks was unopposed for Water Valley School Board District 5.
