Lawmakers listen to presenters at the joint hearing on elections on August 28, 2024, at the state Capitol.
- In-person early voting is in 47 states, with Mississippi, Alabama and New Hampshire the only states without the process. Another 43 states allow first-time online voter registration. Mississippi does not.
Mississippi lawmakers held a joint committee hearing on Wednesday regarding elections in the Magnolia State.
Chairman of House Apportionment and Elections State Representative Noah Sanford (R) and Senate Elections Chairman Jeremy England (R) agreed to hold the hearing late in the 2024 session after the House did not take up England’s early voting bill.
“This past year, we began to talk about this idea of in-person early voting and other things going on with elections in Mississippi and when I talked with Rep. Sanford about that he if we don’t get a bill passed we’ll certainly have a hearing on it and here we are,” England said. “So, he’s a man true to his word and I appreciate him doing that.”
Joining the lawmakers at the hearing were representatives with the Secretary of State’s office and Circuit Clerks Association as well as Election Commissioners and nonpartisan groups active nationally in the election process.
In-Person Early Voting
Samantha Buckley with Secure Democracy began the day’s presentations. Secure Democracy is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that works to build confidence in our elections and improve voter access across the U.S.
Buckley told legislators that in-person early voting works just like voting on Election Day. The local election officials check for Voter ID and the voter casts a ballot at the Circuit Clerk’s office. The ballot is then secured and placed amongst the other ballots to be counted on Election Day, not left in an envelope to be counted after the fact like absentee voting.
“There is no pretabulation here,” Buckley said.
Rep. Dan Eubanks (R) asked about the chain of custody on the ballots as they are cast in early voting.
“My concern would only be with early voting if you had multiple precincts going into one machine, one box being counted, how they divide those up so they can be properly counted in their rightful precinct,” Eubanks said.
Buckley said the processes of the Circuit Clerk and the tabulation machines are key to ensuring security controls and proper counting.
She added that in-person early voting could ease lines on Election Day and result in fewer absentee ballots, leading to smoother election administration but with the same security controls in place.
“So, with in-person early voting there’s going to be the same security checks as we see on Election Day. You’re going to be looking at photo IDs. You’re going to be checking the registration status to be sure there’s no marks or flags on there,” Buckley said.
Senator England’s proposed bill, which passed 44-8 in his chamber, would have allowed for 15 days of early voting prior to an Election Day, excluding Sundays and ending the Saturday before the scheduled election. The measure would have eliminated in-person absentee voting, but mail-in absentee voting would still have been accessible. Currently in Mississippi, voters can vote 6 weeks prior to Election Day.
As of July 2024, in-person early voting is in 47 states, with Mississippi, Alabama and New Hampshire the only states without the process. Buckley said it is not a new concept; there are tried and true processes.
Buckley shared an Arc Insights Poll from November 2023 that showed 74 percent of voters support in-person early voting, with 65 percent of Republicans and 82 percent of Democrats voicing support.
Senator England asked about the potential shift in election results in states that have implemented in-person early voting, such as Republicans states turning Democrat or vice versa. Buckley said that is not generally the case.
“I don’t think early voting is a cause of any political shift you may see. Rather, what you’re seeing is a demographic population change and with that, that may occur, but I wouldn’t point to early voting being the reason for it,” Buckley added.
She said Secure Democracy has found that rural voters use in-person early voting 25 percent more than other voters.
Online Voter Registration
Trey Grayson, the former Republican Secretary of State for Kentucky, also joined lawmakers for the hearing as part of the Secure Elections Project, a national nonprofit that works mostly in “red or purple states” on the elections processes. He spoke to online voter registration.
Mississippi does not currently allow first-time online voter registration. Grayson said states have found that online voter registration saves money, enhances voter convenience, and is more secure than the traditional method.
“Forty-three states have gone all in, so they allow both the updating and the initial registration,” Grayson said, noting that Mississippi does allow for updating online.
He said online registrations are significantly cheaper due to the lack of paper necessary to register to vote. Grayson said it costs about 3 cents to process online registration while it costs upwards of $4 to process it on paper, which could save some $700,000 per year. Paper registration would still be available.
Grayson said online registration also cuts down on data entry errors.
As for demographics of who utilizes online voter registration, Grayson said the majority leans towards younger voters as those are who are traditionally first-time registers.
Lawmakers are expected to consider legislation on both early voting and online voter registration during the 2025 session.
You can watch the full joint elections hearing here.
Frank Corder
