Mississippians whose absentee ballots are rejected because of an issue with their signature must now be given an opportunity to fix the problem. That’s one of the agreements reached between the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and the secretary of state’s office. Attorney Jennifer Nwachukwu.
“This process provides for voters to receive notification of the signature-related issue within one business day of the election,” said Nwachukwu.
Once voters are notified, they have 10 days to correct the problem to ensure their vote is counted. Nwachukwu and the Southern Poverty Law Center filed a lawsuit against the state in August, to expand absentee voting because of the coronavirus pandemic. The lawsuit sought to remove excuses to vote absentee such as being age 65 or older, having a disability or quarantined by a doctor because of COVID 19. Nwachukwu says they also wanted to end the notarization requirement.
“Voters who are eligible to vote absentee by mail have to have both their absentee ballot application and their absentee ballot envelope notarized or signed by an official who is authorized to administer oaths,” said Nwachukwu.
The case was dismissed with those absentee voting rules remaining in place. But an agreement allows voters with COVID 19 symptoms to vote curbside at the polls on election day. Corey Wiggins is with the State NAACP, a plaintiff in the case. He says they’re making progress, chipping away at the state’s restrictive absentee voting laws.
“It has always been something that we’ve worked on over the past couple of years. We’ve even filed a lawsuit back in 2018, regarding the absentee voting process here in Mississippi. And it’s something that we have to continue to work on,” said Wiggins.
Wiggins says despite some legal setbacks, it’s still important that citizens vote.
