It has been more than a week since voters in the United States cast ballots in the midterm elections.
But the size of Democrats’ majorities in the House of Representatives and Senate remained undetermined. More than a dozen congressional races are still waiting to be called.
Recommended Stories
list of 3 itemsend of list
Democrats have already won 54 Senate seats in the incoming Congress in January, but they could pick up one or two more as votes are counted in Alaska and Mississippi.
Meanwhile, in the House of Representatives, Democrats have notched their largest elected majority since 2008, with 255 seats in the 435-member chamber. But they have the potential to add to their lead with several more seats as the remaining races are decided.
Here’s a look at where things stand in some of the uncalled races:
Mississippi’s Senate seat remains too early to call
Late on Tuesday, Democrat Scott Colom was about 2,600 votes ahead of Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith in the race for the US Senate in Mississippi.
There are two key deadlines in the vote-counting process in Mississippi this week: Mail-in absentee ballots must be received by Tuesday, and counties are required to submit their certified election results — including tallies of provisional ballots — to the state by Friday.
It is unclear exactly how many ballots are left to count.
Unlike in some other states, there is no central vote reporting system for Mississippi, and few counties release election results online. Instead, journalists from The Associated Press and analysts communicate with each of the state’s 82 counties directly for the latest available information on vote counts.
The state will certify its results on December 3.
On Monday, Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson said about 14,200 provisional ballots had been processed, of which about 80 percent were accepted, and about 2,700 mail-in absentee ballots had not yet been returned.
Mississippi does not have automatic recounts or permit candidates to request a recount. Recounts in the state are held only in the event of a court order. The Associated Press may declare a winner in a race that is eligible for a recount if it can determine the lead is too large for a recount or legal challenge to change the outcome.
The vote count is ongoing in Alaska’s Senate race
Democrat Mary Peltola led Republican Senator Dan Sullivan by about 2,500 votes in Alaska’s US Senate race as of Tuesday, with an estimated 76 percent of the vote counted.
Absentee ballots are among those that continue to be counted. The final absentee ballots mailed from outside the US are accepted as late as November 18, which is 15 days after Election Day.
Ranked-choice voting could also affect the timeline. Peltola is just over one percentage point short of the majority needed to win outright. If neither candidate wins a majority, the race will proceed to ranked-choice tabulation on November 18.
The state’s “target date” for certifying the election results is November 25.
Recounts in Alaska are automatic only in the event of a tie vote. Candidates may also request a recount within five days of the state’s certification.
A dozen House races are still up in the air
In most of the US House races that have not been called, the margin between the leading candidates was less than one percentage point among votes counted, as of late Tuesday afternoon.
In North Carolina, four races remain undecided, the most of any state, and Republican incumbents were being challenged in each one. There are no automatic recounts in North Carolina, but candidates may request a recount if the margin between candidates is one percent or less of the total votes.
The state must receive the recount request by noon Eastern Time (17:00 GMT) on November 17, two business days after the county canvass in the state. The state is scheduled to certify its results on November 24.
In California, only one of the remaining House races, in the 23rd District, will affect the chamber’s balance of power. The other uncalled race is between two Democrats. Mail-in ballots must be received by Tuesday, and counties must certify their results by December 3. The state will certify its results on December 11.
In South Carolina’s 2nd District, a recount is ongoing in the race between Republican incumbent Joe Wilson and Democrat Zyon Khalifa. Wilson led Khalifa by only about 3,000 votes in the original tally by late Tuesday afternoon, when 99 percent of the votes had been counted.
In Minnesota’s 1st District, the race was still undecided late by Tuesday, with about 300 votes separating the top two candidates and an estimated 99 percent of votes counted. Recounts are not automatic in Minnesota, but a candidate can request a publicly funded recount if the margin between the winning and losing candidates is less than 0.25 percent of the vote.
In Tennessee’s 4th District, about 300 votes lay between Democrat Victoria Broderick and Republican incumbent Scott DesJarlais as of Tuesday. In that state, recounts are held only as part of a legal challenge in the courts. There are no automatic recounts, and losing candidates may not request recounts.
Two governorships remain undecided
In the race to be Kansas’s next governor, Democratic state Senator Cindy Holscher led state Republican Senate President Ty Masterson by less than one percentage point on Tuesday.
On November 4, the state announced that a close-race audit had been triggered in six close Kansas races, including the gubernatorial race.
That process requires a hand count of selected ballots, and it must be completed before November 16, the day by which counties must certify their results.
In the race for governor of Alaska, only about 76 percent of votes were estimated to have been counted by Tuesday.
The Democratic gubernatorial candidate, Jonathan Kreiss‑Tomkins, was leading Bernadette Wilson by about 45,000 votes, 49.6 percent to 28.9 percent. The race will advance to ranked-choice tabulation if no candidate receives more than 50 percent of the vote.
