Voting advocates want improved transparency, access to Mississippi elections

Comprised of the NAACP’s Legal Defense Fund, OneVoice, Southern Poverty Law Center and the Black Women's Roundtable, among others, the coalition of nearly ten Mississippi-based organizations formed in the wake of last year's general election, where several precincts ran out of ballots before voting concluded, including in Hinds county. 

In the weeks after election day, representatives of the “Erasure at the Polls” coalition met with the Hinds County Election Commission on several occasions to try and figure out what went wrong -- and how it can be improved moving forward. 

Nsombi Lambright, Executive Director at OneVoice, says that process begins with learning which voters are at risk of being purged in future elections.

“The first thing that we’re going to continue to do is get copies of the inactive voter rolls from each county. We’ve also reached out to the Secretary of State’s office, who of course has the entire inactive voter roll for the entire state,” Lambright said, “so we’re working with our partners to determine who is inactive and get them back on the rolls.”   

Leah Wang, an attorney at the LDF, says recently enacted legislation that would both increase list maintenance and further purge voter rolls due to inactivity will only make that issue worse. 

“Though list maintenance is a necessary function required of election officials, the period of time within which HB1310 requires the purge process to begin is unnecessary, and the notion that Mississippi’s lists require more frequent maintenance is one that should be challenged by all. It only leads to more voter suppression than good election administration.”  

The coalition also wants to see improved training and education for election officials and poll workers.