The initial paperwork for the 10 Days of Early Voting Ballot Initiative has been filed with the Mississippi Secretary of State's office. The proposed initiative would allow people to vote at least 10 days before an election at the offices of circuit clerks or municipal clerks and other qualifying polling locations. DeSoto County resident Kelly Jacobs authored the Ballot Initiative. She says early voting could allow Mississippians to avoid long lines at the polls.
Jacobs says “Early voting lets anybody, any age who’s a registered voter to vote on one of 11 days, right? The ten early voting days and then on election day because everybody doesn’t have Tuesday off to go vote.”
During the three-month legislative session, no measures to expand voting in Mississippi passed out of committee. Democratic Representative Hester Jackson-McCray of DeSoto County says nine bills were introduced.
“No matter what the legislature is going through, whatever their reason for not passing it, we are the people. And we have an option to vote, or let the legislature vote. This time, we’re gonna let the people vote," says Rep. Jackson-McCray.
Currently in Mississippi, absentee voting is available to residents 65 or older, those who are permanently disabled or will be out of their home county on Election Day.
Republican leadership has long opposed expanding early voting. Secretary of State Michael Watson says he has concerns about the logistics of voting early.
“So say you have in-person early absentee voting. Your folks with the smaller courthouses, they’ve got to conduct their business as well. Logistics questions are going to have to be answered as well, not just the policy piece," says Watson.
Advocates say filing the early voting initiative is the first step in what could be a two-year-long process.
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