Why Alaska's Senate race could take weeks to count

The midterm election now in the rear view, but some races remain too close to call. And that includes two crucial Senate races in states that typically aren't that competitive, usually in the past. Hannah Flood is in the Live Center with what's happening both in Mississippi... And Alaska, good morning. Good morning. Yeah, they still have a road ahead of them here. The margins in both Mississippi and Alaska in those Senate races are razor thin right now. And the outcome is going to affect how big of a majority Democrats will have in Washington starting next year. Here's where the balance of power in the Senate sits right now. Democrats securing 54 seats, Republicans holding 44. If Alaska and Mississippi flip blue, that puts Democrats at 56 seats in the Senate, which is below the supermajority of 67, need to override president Presidential vetoes. Or the 60 that they need to end a filibuster. Here's where the Mississippi race sits this morning. Democratic challenger Scott Collum has 49% of the vote. Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde is just barely behind with 48.89%. It's a difference of just over 1,000 votes. Only 90% of precincts have reported their results. So that final 4% could be crucial here. Mississippi also does not have automatic recounts. They also don't allow candidates to request recounts, so it's possible the courts could end up settling this race. Now to Alaska, where their Senate race also incredibly close. Democrat Mary Patola has 48.17% to Republican Dan Sullivan's 47.88%. There's also the independent Dan J. Sullivan, who was on the ballot. He got 3,600 votes, and it could lead to legal challenges when this is all wrapped up, something that was already alluded to before this election even got started. So far, 75% of the results are in Alaska, but that last 25%, that last quarter usually covers very remote communities that need to actually fly in their ballots to be counted. On top of that, Alaska uses ranked choice voting. To win a general election in that state, candidates need more than 50% of the vote. If they don't reach that threshold, election officials eliminate the last place finisher and reallocate those votes to the voters' next choice until they reach a majority. Lived in Alaska for 50 years, so I'm used to it taking a while. It's exciting that for the first time we've been consequential in this election, which is not always the norm. We are patiently awaiting. The state will accept ballots from those remote communities until November 18th, 15 days after the election. So we are waiting a while to see the results in both of those races. But when you look at the makeup, Tom and Kelly, it won't swing the Senate one way or other, but it could increase the majority that Democrats have there. Okay, we'll see what happens. All right, Hannah Flood in our live center. Thank you.