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- An in-person excused voting period has replaced a push for early voting in Mississippi.
Mississippi lawmakers have agreed on a conference report that implements what they are calling the “In-Person Excused Voting Act.”
The measure is a compromise between the House and Senate after negotiations broke down this session over an early voting proposal offered by State Senator Jeremy England (R).
England, the Senate Elections Committee Chairman, had sought to pass an early voting bill that would allow for no excuse, 15-day voting prior to an Election Day, effectively ending the need for absentee voting in Mississippi.
Yet, Governor Tate Reeves (R) took to social media after its passage in the chamber, calling it a Democrat priority and saying it was a “terrible idea.”
State Rep. Noah Sanford (R), chairman of the House Apportionment and Elections Committee, soon thereafter said the House lacked support for early voting and offered an amendment that replaced the early voting provisions in the bill with an expanded version of absentee balloting.
The measure – SB 2654 – was then sent to conference where the two chambers hashed out their differences prior to bringing out a conference report with the compromise language.
As it stands now under the compromise, an in-person excused voting period will begin 22 days before the date of each primary, general, runoff, special and municipal election for public office and continue until 12:00 p.m. on the Saturday immediately preceding the election day.
Under current law, voters had 45 days to cast an absentee ballot.
Voters with an excuse to do so early would be allowed to cast their ballot in-person in the clerk’s office or at another secure location designated by the local governing body under the new bill.
Valid excuses for voting early in the bill are similar to what has been in practice for absentee voting in the past with the addition of Sanford’s language regarding that of anticipating being at work and being a caretaker of a child, disabled person, or senior citizen was added in the measure.
Clerks will be able to extend the hours of from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. during the final week leading up to an election day and remain open from 8:00 a.m. until 12:00 p.m. for the two Saturdays immediately preceding each election.
Both chambers overwhelmingly adopted the conference report on the legislation, with the House passing it 111-0 and the Senate 42-7.
There has been no word from Governor Reeves on whether he will sign this new legislation into law or veto it.
Frank Corder
