Question about 2018 election results

[fec-issues-bot]

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I was looking for authoritative data on the 2018 election. I found it easily and started working with it and found what I think is an error in both the PDF and the Excel spreadsheet.

In particular in the spreadsheet, in table 4 Senate by party, for MS the numbers in the general election are: 369567 democratic votes, 547619 republican votes, and 1872084 other votes. That last value does not appear to be accurate. Here's what my AI says; I confirmed its number via the MS state certified returns!

------Perplexity says-------

The FEC does not include 1,872,084 as the number of votes for third-party candidates in the 2018 federal Senate elections in Mississippi. This number is incorrect and not supported by the search results provided.
According to the official election results, the actual number of votes for third-party candidates in the 2018 Mississippi Senate elections was much lower:
In the regular Senate election where Roger Wicker won re-election:
Libertarian candidate Danny Bedwell received 12,981 votes
Reform Party candidate Shawn O'Hara received 6,048 votes2
In the special Senate election, there were no third-party candidates in the runoff between Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith and Democrat Mike Espy1
The total number of votes for third-party candidates in the 2018 Mississippi Senate elections was therefore 12,981 + 6,048 = 19,029.
This discrepancy suggests there may be an error in the FEC data you're referring to, which is not present in the search results provided. The total number of votes cast in both Senate races combined (936,215 for the regular election2 and 907,588 for the special election runoff1) was 1,843,803, which is close to but still less than the number you mentioned. It's possible there has been a data entry error or misinterpretation of the results.
For accurate election data, it's always best to refer to the official FEC reports or cross-reference with other reliable sources.
--- end perplexity ----

I hope you can review this data and correct it.

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