According to the Movement Advancement Project, Mississippi is one of seven states that does not offer online voter registration.
Lily Moens with MS Votes said that an online system would make a huge difference for voters living in rural communities.
“I think online registration would address so many of the problems that we see and so many barriers,” Moens said. “Having an easier way of filling out the form online and then printing it out, scanning it back to their circuit clerks, just different ways of submitting that information to the circuit clerk would be incredibly helpful for folks who live really far from that office or might not be able to make it during work hours...”
Moens said that citizens who can’t access circuit clerk offices are less likely to register to vote. She explained that even though voters can mail in their registration, something as simple as illegible handwriting can have their registration form discarded.
“That voter is not registered because of their handwriting, which I think begs the question of why we don't have online voter registration when that is something that would eliminate a lot of the inefficiencies and reasons that people might not get registered in the first place,” Moens said.
Mississippi House Representative Timaka James-Jones, who serves five rural delta counties (Humphreys, Sharkey, Holmes, Yazoo, Leflore), agreed that online registration would remove barriers Mississippians face when it comes to voting.
“Having access to the ballot box. It means having the accessibility. It means that it just, it frees up any barriers for voter participation, voter registration,” James-Jones said. “We just need to catch up to the rest of the United States and do what is best for our constituents and offer that opportunity for online voter registration. We know that it is safe, it is secure, and so why not?”
But Greene County Circuit Clerk Cecelia Bounds said that many rural communities have managed without online registration.
“Those of us who live in these rural places, it's become a way of life for us. We kind of are attached to that kind of life. But I do understand that getting to the courthouse to register to vote could be difficult for some people.”
Bounds said residents without internet access or those with questions about the elections should call their local circuit clerk for assistance.
“We are here to help. We're here to navigate this, help you navigate the system. And we're the, we should be your front line for information whenever it comes to all things voting and election.”
Jacobi Grant with the League of Women Voters of Mississippi said that the organization encourages people in rural communities to take advantage of absentee and early voting if they can’t make it to the polls on Nov. 3.
