JACKSON, Miss.–When you went to the polls Tuesday, you did not have to show your ID. Sec. of State Delbert Hosemann and other Republicans and a few Democrats have been on a mission to change that. Hosemann now believes that mission is close to being fulfilled.
“We’re gonna win voter ID and the reason is that it’s Constitutional, we voted on it, 62 percent of the people did. The regulations are well-drafted. We’ve answered all the questions,” he said.
“We have free transportation through MDOT, who’s been very very helpful and free birth certificates through the Dept. of Health and Human Services.”
Hosemann said that his office went above and beyond the requirements for federal approval and took a poll of 6,000 Mississippians during the 2012 presidential election.
“Nobody had ever done that before in the country. Every demographic-black, white, male, female, income level, age-we got the same demographic as the 2010 census. It showed .8 percent didn’t have an ID with them.”
Hosemann said that debunks a study that suggested as many as 400,000 voters could be disenfranchised if asked to show ID at the polls.
“They have no reply to that. We’ve got the only really accurate data.”
Hosemann said his office, the legislature and the governor’s office have also complied with requests for any e-mails relating to voter ID, but only since the vote that made it Constitutional. He said the feds had asked for any voter ID e-mails “from the beginning of time” but he did not feel that request was justified.
As for the final decision, it’s a 60-day wait. If the state is shot down, Hosemann said the next battle would be in the courtroom, a measure the legislature has both anticipated and funded.
