A new lawsuit seeks to ensure Mississippians who are concerned about voting in-person because of the coronavirus pandemic can do so by absentee ballot in November. MPB's Ashley Norwood has more.
The Mississippi Center for Justice and the American Civil Liberties Union argue in a lawsuit that the state's absentee ballot law is confusing. They're asking a judge to clarify that all voters who follow public health guidance to avoid contracting COVID-19 may vote by absentee ballot in the fall elections. The lawsuit was filed Tuesday in Hinds County Chancery Court on behalf of seven voters. Some of them have pre-existing health conditions and they're afraid they'll contract the virus by voting in-person.
Rob McDuff is a lawyer with the Mississippi Center for Justice.
"Voters should not have to ignore the public health guidance from the Mississippi Department of Health in order to exercise their right to vote," said McDuff.
Mississippi only allows absentee voting for a few reasons. And recently, the state Legislature amended the law to say that people who are under a physician-imposed quarantine due to COVID-19 can vote absentee this year. McDuff calls the phrasing ambiguous.
Connie Ladner is the Harrison County Circuit Clerk. She says they don't want to turn anyone away from voting.
"When they fill out the form, if they feel comfortable checking 'I have a temporary physical disability' then yes they're going to mark that form and they're going to get their ballot," said Ladner. "We don't want anybody to be turned away from voting. We want everyone that wants to vote needs to be able to vote."
The lawsuit names Secretary of State Michael Watson and the Hinds and Rankin counties circuit clerks as defendants. Watson's office says they're reviewing the complaint and have no comments at this time.