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In this series, I work through press conferences and other video-based newscasts and convert them into posts complete with sourcing and fact checking. While you can still access the videos I base these posts on, I try to make sure that the posts stand on their own and that nothing important is left out.

NAACP Press Briefing

With ballots still being counted in Mississippi’s Senate race between Cindy Hyde-Smith and Scott Colom, NAACP President Derrick Johnson accused the state’s Republican Party chairman of intimidating election workers. Charles Taylor, executive director of the Mississippi NAACP, said election workers can count on the organization’s support: “If someone is intimidating you, we will be there.” [1]

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The Warning Was About Mike Hurst

Johnson cited as an example of intimidation Hurst’s press conference, saying Hurst spoke “as if he had the authority of the U.S. attorney’s office,” and asserted that there has been no evidence of election fraud produced. [1]

While ballots continued to be counted with Scott Colom in the lead over Cindy Hyde-Smith, the Mississippi Republican Party said it was ready to take legal action if election laws were violated. [2] [4]

Standing outside the Hinds County Courthouse in Jackson during a Nov. 5 press conference organized by his party, Mississippi Republican Party Chairman Mike Hurst, a former U.S. attorney, said his party has sent more than 50 attorneys and other observers to monitor the ballot count, WLBT reported. [4]

Hurst said his party would “fight like hell” to make sure that every vote counted was a legal vote. He said he would accept the results if Colom won legally. [2]

Many of the outstanding votes are in Republican-leaning areas, Hurst told reporters. He wouldn’t say which counties or provide evidence for his claim, Mississippi Today reported. [2]

Johnson said election observers should protect the process from being meddled with, but shouldn’t meddle with it themselves. He said election officials should be able to complete their jobs free of political pressure. [1] People examining ballots should be able to make determinations about whether votes are valid without concern about upsetting one party or the other.

The Voters Behind the Ballots

Thousands of voters were registered through the organization’s efforts, which included knocking on 150,000 doors in 40 Mississippi counties ahead of the Nov. 3 elections, said Taylor, who said the organization had opened 11 offices across the state. [1]

Taylor pledged to resist intimidation and help ensure every eligible vote is counted, invoking the spirit of Mississippi civil rights leader Medgar Evers. [1]

Johnson referred to an anecdote about a reporter in the Gulf Coast area who found that his name was not on voter rolls when he went to cast his ballot and had to use an affidavit ballot. The problem, according to Johnson, was that the address information being used pointed to the reporter’s childhood home. Voter registration rolls and databases need to be improved, he said. [1]

Lex Politica has no legal basis to require that valid affidavit ballots be segregated outside standard statutory procedures, and county election commissions should release affidavit-ballot totals and statistics on absentee ballots requested, issued and returned, as well as make public the dates and locations of election commission meetings, the NAACP said in a Nov. 6 statement. The civil rights organization said it has sent a letter to each of Mississippi’s county election commissions. [3]

Let Them Finish the Count

During his briefing, Johnson did not announce plans to file a lawsuit challenging rejected ballots but did say Mississippi would have to deal with restrictions, including not offering no-excuse early voting, that he believes contributed to the counting delays. He said his immediate focus was finishing the count and certification. [1]

I’m staying with Mississippi because voters deserve to know what happened to their ballots, and election workers need to be able to follow the law, regardless of whether a political party likes the outcome.

People shouldn’t be left wondering if election workers were scared into making a decision about their ballot. If ballots were rejected, there should be legally defensible reasons for each one.

Sources

[1] Forbes Breaking News, November 8, 2026. NAACP press briefing in Jackson, Mississippi. Remarks by NAACP President Derrick Johnson and Mississippi NAACP Executive Director Charles Taylor.

[2] Taylor Vance, Mississippi Today, November 5, 2026. “Mississippi GOP chair vows to ‘fight like hell’ in Senate midterm vote counting.”

[3] NAACP, November 6, 2026. “NAACP Urges Mississippi Election Commissioners to Follow Every Legal Procedure.”

Mississippi Gotdamn: The NAACP Tells the GOP…