Mississippi's Senate margin widens to 1,138 votes for Scott Colom in the latest AP count, and the race is still too early to call

The closest Senate race in the country moved on Wednesday without being settled. The count this site reported in the morning had Colom ahead by 43 votes. Early in the afternoon the margin was 65. The latest Associated Press count on Wednesday put Colom at 464,926 votes and Hyde-Smith at 463,788, a lead of 1,138 votes as of November 4, with 1,733 of the state's 1,736 precincts reporting. Independent Ty Pinkins holds about 19,938 votes. The AP still rates the race too early to call.

What is left is the slow part of the count. About 20,000 mail and affidavit ballots remain to be processed, by an estimate WLOX and Gray News reported; the Colom campaign has put the affidavit ballots alone at 10,000 to 15,000, and there is no official count. Mail ballots postmarked by Election Day can arrive through November 10, and voters who cast affidavit ballots for lack of photo identification have until November 10 to show identification at their circuit clerk's office. Counties must send their certified results to the secretary of state by November 13, and the state's calendar lists December 3 for the secretary of state to declare the result.

Mississippi gives the loser almost no machinery. There is no runoff in a federal general election, so the candidate with the most votes wins even under 50 percent. The state has no automatic recount law and no way for a candidate to request one; only a court can order a recount. A margin that started the day at 43 votes has room to move again before November 10, and whichever side finishes behind will have to decide whether a lead of this size is worth a judge.