Governor Tate Reeves has signed a bill that he believes will strengthen the integrity of Mississippi elections.
Reeves signed House Bill 1310 on Wednesday, which does the following:
- Authorizes the Secretary of State to audit election procedures across all counties
- Improves citizenship checks
- Requires the Secretary of State to create a post-election audit manual
- Lays out a system by which voting rolls can be better maintained by cleaning them of inactive voters
“The state of Mississippi is committed to ensuring the integrity of our elections,” Reeves said. “With the signing of this bill, we are taking another step toward guaranteeing that Mississippi has the most secure elections in the country. I was proud to sign this legislation into law.”
According to Reeves’ office, data has revealed that certain Mississippi counties have more registered voters than current eligible voting-age citizens, indicating that a number of voter rolls do not properly reflect the existing eligible voters in that county.
As a result, election commissioners throughout the state will send a confirmation notice to any registered voter that falls into the following categories:
- A registered voter if it appears from the United States Postal Service change-of-address information that the registered voter has moved to a different residence
- A registered voter if a county election commissioner or county registrar has received notice from another state, or political subdivision of another state, that the registered voter has registered to vote in another state
- A registered voter who has failed to vote at least once in any election or update his or her registration during a period that begins in the year of a presidential preference primary and extends until the next general election for President of the United States that does not occur in the same year as the beginning of the period
- A registered voter if the registrar or election commissioners have received reliable information that he or she has moved within or outside of the state
The bill states that “no registered voter shall be sent a confirmation notice… if he or she has been sent a confirmation notice for those same reasons within the last six years.”
Registered voters that fail to respond to the confirmation notice or update the elector’s registration information” between the time the notice is sent and the second general election for federal office will be given a purged status in the Statewide Elections Management System.
