Mississippi
Ballot Security
What Politicians Say
The state has made only minor changes to election law since 2020, including making it easier for naturalized citizens to register to vote. Lawmakers also banned private donations from helping run elections.
Ease of Voting
In 2019, Mississippi was sued over its system for checking the citizenship of newly registered voters.
Under the system in place then, the secretary of state cross-referenced the state driver’s license and ID database, which the Mississippi Center for Justice said was often out of date, given that some people apply for a driver’s license as a non-citizen and then are naturalized later.
In 2022, Republican Governor Tate Reeves signed legislation that requires the secretary of state to also check the federal Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements database.
The legislation also repealed a 1924 law requiring new citizens to present a certification of naturalization when registering to vote.
Now, only voters whose citizenship status is flagged after a search of state and federal databases will need to show proof of naturalization.
After the law was signed, the Mississippi Center for Justice dropped the lawsuit.
Ballot Security
Another new law barred elections officials from accepting private donations to run elections, such as the grants the state received from Meta Platforms Inc Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg in 2020.
Read More: Zuckerberg’s Election Aid Spurs GOP Drive in 30 States to Ban It
Mississippi has not addressed one of the biggest problems with its voting machines, however.
According to the nonpartisan Verified Voting Foundation, nearly 32% of touchscreen voting machines in Mississippi do not produce a paper record of the vote, the fifth-highest percentage among US states.
How Politicians Responded to the 2020 Election
Reeves has repeatedly criticized vote-by-mail and early voting in other states in the 2020 election, saying they led to “too much chaos.” In interviews, he’s refused to answer direct questions about whether Biden won “fair and square” or was “legitimately and lawfully elected,” saying only that Biden was certified by the states and by Congress.
Attorney General Lynn Fitch and all three of Mississippi’s Republican US representatives supported the Texas lawsuit asking the Supreme Court to intervene in the election.
US Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith and the three representatives objected to Biden electors from Arizona and Pennsylvania.