Two Madison County election commissioners inspect an affidavit ballot envelope on Thursday in Canton, Miss. The state's razor-thin U.S. Senate race is shining a spotlight on Mississippi's election processes. Rogelio V. Solis/Getty Images hide caption

Rogelio V. Solis/Getty Images

In Mississippi's too-close-to-call U.S. Senate race, every ballot matters.

But no one can say for sure how many ballots there are left to count.

The razor-thin margin between incumbent Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith and Democratic challenger Scott Colom is shining a light on an election process in Mississippi that is among the slowest and most decentralized in the country. It also doesn't have any provisions for recounts .

"Mississippi is not a model of election administration," said Michael Morse, a law professor at the University of Pennsylvania who studies voting.

As of mid-afternoon Friday, more than 2,000 votes separated the two Senate candidates.…