National attention turns to Mississippi’s ballot-counting process

Earlier Wednesday, Hinds County Resolution Board member Shirley Varnado described Mississippi’s affidavit-ballot review process as lengthy while officials worked at the county Election Commission office in Jackson. 

“You know what? I wonder if any other state does this like we do,” Varnado said. “We process the outside of the envelope, we accept or reject before the polls close, but we don't actually open a ballot until after the polls have closed. Then we start to process.” 

Varnado said the resolution board had to receive all of the county’s affidavit ballots before members could open, process and count them. The weeklong wait for results kept attention on Mississippi as election commissioners and resolution boards pored over ballots. 

Attorney Ray Chambers said that after officials counted the votes, at least three election commissioners had to certify the results before sending them to the Secretary of State’s Office. 

“It's still required that the election commission has to, at least three of them, has to sign off on the final results and send them up to the Secretary of State's office,” Chambers said. “They have to go over and making sure they reconcile all the numbers to make sure that all the votes and the final tally matches.” 

Hinds County received 2,426 affidavit ballots, and officials rejected more than half of them. 

Varnado, who has worked in various election roles for more than 50 years, raised concerns about the Secretary of State’s Office’s use of Experian data for voter-roll maintenance. The office began using the data statewide in July 2025 to help identify voters who may have moved. The Secretary of State’s Office said affected voters received confirmation cards and were marked inactive but remained eligible to vote by affidavit ballot. Varnado urged voters to notify election commissioners or circuit clerks when their information changes. 

“If you move, please let the election commissioners know. And I just really don't understand what the deal was with the Secretary of State's office using Experian. I don't know what the thought was behind that,” Varnado said.

In a social media video, Secretary of State Michael Watson said his office no longer uses Experian. He said the office began using Experian data in July 2025 but has since switched to Interactive Data, or IDI, which draws information from three credit-reporting databases. 

“They [IDI] look at all three of the credit data reporting services. And they make sure that they take the time to match each of those addresses from the different three credit reporting services to see what is the most actionable,” Watson said. “So again, we've made a change, not because of any issues we saw with Experian. It was just we saw a better product out there, so we moved along." 

At the Hinds County Election Commission office, officials completed the count in a little more than an hour. People applauded as the results appeared on a screen, giving those in the room their first look at the totals. 

District 4 Election Commissioner Yvonne Horton said commissioners had worked throughout the extended count. She said she hoped the public now better understood why Mississippi’s vote-counting process can take time. 

“It feels great... I'm glad that there are a lot of people here,” Horton said. “First I wasn't, but I am now, because they've seen the process, and whether they live in Mississippi or Maine, they can go back and explain the process with Mississippi.” 

Horton said she hoped future elections would draw turnout equal to or greater than this year’s. 

“I'm thinking perhaps because of that, now more people will register to vote or those who are already registered will come out and vote when they see it,” Horton said.  

Hinds County resident Simone, whose last name was not provided, watched the count from the warehouse. She said the national attention on Mississippi had been positive and that she hoped it would continue. 

“While the attention is great for probably odd reasons, I would love for that attention to be sustainable by really investing in who we are and what we do because this is not gonna be the last time that you hear from us, I think,” Simone said.  

Simone said she wanted people outside the state to recognize Mississippi’s potential. 

“As a person who will always cheer for the deep South, always cheer on Mississippi... The energy has always been here. It has always be here,” Simone said. “It was just like the right moment, the right time, and here it is." 

Statewide, voters submitted 20,913 affidavit ballots. Mississippi’s 82 counties have until 5 p.m. Friday, Nov. 13, to submit certified election results to the Secretary of State’s Office, 10 days after the election.