Mike Hurst
Role at the time: Chairman of the Mississippi Republican Party, speaking at a news conference in Jackson as reported by WLOX
Response to this claim
Mississippi and federal law require counties to keep affidavit ballots from the November 3, 2026, election separate from other ballots, and Cindy Hyde-Smith is entitled to their preservation in an unaltered and identifiable state.
“We at the Mississippi Republican Party are going to fight like hell to make sure that every legal vote that was cast is counted. And that the process to review and the process to count these ballots is legal”
Why we used this label
The reference point is the Hyde-Smith campaign's demand that Mississippi counties separate and preserve affidavit ballots, and the Republican scrutiny of those ballots that the demand supports. Hurst backs close Republican scrutiny of how the outstanding ballots are reviewed and, as WLOX reports, calls the preservation letter standard procedure for a close election, which defends the demand.