HERNANDO, Miss. — DeSoto County official election results for the Nov. 3 general election are now posted, and the final report adds 1,554 ballots to the Election Night count after the county’s review of affidavit ballots on Wednesday, Nov. 11. The added votes did not change the leader in any DeSoto County race, but they widened Democrat Scott Colom’s margin over U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith among county voters to 4,138 votes.
The DeSoto County Election Commission’s summary report is labeled “Official Results” and time-stamped 8:43 p.m. on Nov. 11, a few hours after the Associated Press called the statewide Senate race for Colom and Hyde-Smith conceded. The county posted the report under a “Final Election Results” notice on its website. Mississippi counties must certify their results to the Secretary of State by Friday, Nov. 13.
DeSoto County Official Election Results: Turnout
The official report shows 55,956 ballots cast out of 119,801 registered voters, a turnout of 46.71 percent. The unofficial report released late on Election Night, with all 47 precincts counted, showed 54,402 ballots and 45.41 percent turnout.
Election officials had more than 2,000 affidavit ballots to review in Hernando on Wednesday. Affidavit ballots are cast when a voter’s eligibility must be checked, for example when a name is missing from the poll book or a registration is listed as inactive. The county summary does not say how many affidavit ballots were accepted or rejected, or how many of the 1,554 added ballots came from affidavits rather than other late-counted ballots.
U.S. Senate and U.S. House: DeSoto County Totals
These figures are DeSoto County votes only, not statewide or district-wide totals.
U.S. Senate: Scott Colom (D) 29,266 (52.45%); Cindy Hyde-Smith (R) 25,128 (45.03%); Ty Pinkins (I) 1,336 (2.39%); write-ins 68. Colom gained 1,163 votes from the Election Night report, and Hyde-Smith gained 348.
U.S. House, 1st District: Cliff Johnson (D) 28,421 (51.04%); Trent Kelly (R) 26,343 (47.31%); Johnny Baucom (L) 872 (1.57%); write-ins 48. Kelly won the district as a whole.
DeSoto County backed Colom by more than seven percentage points in the official count. WREG reported that Colom will be Mississippi’s first Black U.S. senator since Reconstruction.
Judicial, County and School Board Races
Judicial races are nonpartisan, and some districts include other counties, so these are DeSoto County votes only.
Court of Appeals, District 1, Position 1: Derek Dewayne Hopson Jr. 26,283 (53.11%); John Weddle 22,644 (45.75%).
Chancery Court, District 17, Place 2: William “Ty” Scott 28,813 (58.76%); Elizabeth “Beth” Owens 19,792 (40.37%).
Chancery Court, Subdistrict 17-1, Place 3: Gwen Baptist 3,213 (51.64%); Malenda Harris Meacham 2,962 (47.61%). Baptist’s margin grew from 234 votes to 251.
Circuit Court, District 21, Place 1: Joseph “Jody” Neyman 26,100 (54.33%); Gordon Shaw Jr. 21,479 (44.71%).
Circuit Court, Subdistrict 21-1, Place 4: John Hughes 3,747 (60.77%); Lucius Edwards 2,366 (38.37%).
Justice Court Judge, District 1: Robert “Billy” Johnson 4,965 (52.02%); James Earl Woodard 4,514 (47.30%).
School Board, District 5: Charles Barton 8,911 (69.52%); Rebeca Tello 3,838 (29.94%).
County Attorney (special election): Tori Williams, unopposed, 44,945 (99.00%).
Unopposed judicial candidates Donna M. Barnes (Court of Appeals, District 1, Position 2), Vicki Daniels (Chancery, Place 1), Craig Treadway (Circuit, Place 2), W. Douglas Hollowell III (Circuit, Place 3) and Allen B. Couch Jr. (County Court Judge, Place 1) each received about 98 percent, with the rest going to write-ins.
What Comes Next
The county’s numbers now go to the Secretary of State, which will compile statewide certified results after the Nov. 13 deadline. Baptist and Hughes, whose wins were reported last week as the first for Black candidates on DeSoto County’s chancery and circuit benches, kept their leads in the official count.
