Voter turnout in Mississippi this year is likely to fall below what the state has seen in the last four presidential elections.
Mississippi Secretary of State Communications Director Elizabeth Jonson told the Clarion Ledger that as of Thursday morning, about 54% of the state’s electorate had been accounted for as casting a ballot by the end of Election Day.
That number is likely to rise to about or just above 60% by the time all absentee ballots are accounted for.
In Mississippi, county election offices have until Nov. 13 to confirm election results thanks to a now-defunct state law allowing the counting of mail-in absentee ballots for five days following the election as long as those ballots were post-marked by Election Day.
A recent U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals decision struck down the law, but it will go into effect after the election results are counted.