JACKSON, Miss.-Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann, along with Gov. Phil Bryant, and Senator Sally Doty, have announced the launching of a new website to help Mississippi voters before they get to the polls.
The online voter site allows for already registered Mississippi voters to change the location of their registration and find out exactly what polls are available to them before election day.
Gov. Bryant reminded voters at a meeting Wednesday that September is National Voter Registration Month. While 80 percent of Mississippians who are eligible to vote are registered, he said the 20 percent is what they’re focused on now.
The site is a collaborative effort between the Secretary of State’s office and other Mississippi lawmakers including Doty.
“With this service people don’t have to go to the circuit clerk anymore to change their address,” said Hosemann. “Secondly, they need to vote in the right precinct.”
A voter must also be located in the Department of Public Safety database by providing his or her name, address, date of birth, and driver’s license or identification number exactly as the information appears on his or her state-issued license or ID. The new information is then available to the relevant Circuit Clerk, who also checks for accuracy. Providing false information on Y’all Vote is a crime.
Hosemann said this website allows for that information to be monitored while saving taxpayers time and money.
Importantly, address changes after October 8, 2016, the deadline for registering to vote in the General Election, require the voter to contact the Circuit Clerk in his or her county in which the voter is currently registered.
While this is just what many were looking for in the way of modernizing Mississippi’s voting system, Gov. Bryant was still asked about the prospect of allowing all voter registration to be done online.
He said they are ahead of the curve in looking into that option but until they can be certain that it is un-hackable the state will not implement it.
“Hacking has been taking place, people have been able to compromise some of those systems, and I want to make sure that the confidentiality is certainly protected and I think you do that by deliberation and not by rushing into it,” said Bryant.
You can visit the site here.
