election related-priorities could be piling up for 2025 Session
Mississippi House and Senate lawmakers will meet Aug. 28 at the Capitol to rehash discussions had during the 2024 Session about electronic voter registration, early in-person voting and other issues.
Senate Election Committee Chairman Jeremy England, R-Vancleave, told the Clarion Ledger during the 2024 Session, he had tried to work on an early in-person voting bill. After it died by a legislative deadline, he and House Apportionment and Elections Committee Chairman Noah Sanford, R-Collins, decided to have a special hearing to further discuss the legislation.
“I know a lot of our committee chairman between the Senate and the House maybe don’t get along as well, but Noah and I are really working together on this to try to make sure that we have good election laws,” England said.
The joint-hearing will include members from both committees, and the primary topic of discussion will be early in-person voting and electronic voter registration. England also said that Secretary of State Michael Watson, circuit clerks and several election commissioners and even a think tank group will appear to talk about elections related issued.
“The ability to vote kind of on your own time is an important thing,” England said. “If we’re going to move to that in Mississippi, one of the things that my law did was, was ensured that that those early votes are counted and tabulated on election day, so you don’t have the delay of opening absentee ballots and counting them after the fact.”
Read about mail-in absentee ballot case US Court rejects RNC challenge to MS mail-in absentee ballot counting, GOP to appeal
The Mississippi Republican Party, joined by the Republican National Committee and others, have appealed a ruling in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi, which rejected the party’s arguments that counting mail-in absentee ballots after election day is unlawful.”
When it comes to outside-of-session committees, England said this would be the first one on elections and voting laws since he took office in 2020 aside from legislative redistricting meeting in 2021.
Sen. Hob Bryan, D-Amory, who also serves on the Senate committee said determining legislation now could actually be a good idea, although he had no clue the meeting was evening happening.
The second year of a term is typically when state lawmakers look at elections-related bills more closely, Bryan said.
“The next two years that are coming up, we don’t have statewide elections. We don’t have a presidential election. Those are good years to make changes,” Bryant said.
On the idea of early in-person voting, Bryan said there are many complications to iron out, such as how to verify those who vote early are who they say, whether polling locations need to be established in areas far away from the local circuit clerk’s office and also the timeline of when people can vote early.
“First of all, I think the step that makes the most sense is, in fact, to have (early in-person) voting at the courthouse, because, despite the issues with that, and that’s something to think about, that has the least opportunity for mischief,” Bryan said. “If we’re going to get outside the courthouse, or if we decide that’s an issue, then the question comes, how do you decide where the locations are and how many there have to be? And I don’t have a good (answer).”
Will election related topics be a priority in the 2025 session?
Whether Bryan’s prediction for a usual term is true or not, lawmakers will have plenty of elections related items to address next year without early in-person voting or any other topic brought up during the Aug. 28 meeting.
In the 2025 session, lawmakers will have to come up with a plan to redistrict the state’s judicial lines for chancery and circuit court judges. Senate Judiciary B Committee Chairman Brice Wiggins, R-Pascagoula, made a serious effort in 2024 to get that legislation passed, but it died by a legislative deadline for House and Senate members to compromise on its final version.
Lawmakers will also need to create three new Black-majority legislative districts, per a ruling in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi.
More on legislative redistricting case U.S. Court allows MS to wait until 2025 to establish new majority-Black districts
Assuming England and Sanford continue conversations about early in-person voting and other related topics, those would be tacked on for serious consideration next year.
House leaders including Constitution Committee Chairman Price Wallace, R-Mendenhall, and House Speaker Jason White, R-West, have also publicly stated they want to continue efforts to give people with certain non-violent disenfranchising felonies back their voting rights.
How to attend the House and Senate joint Elections Committee meeting:
For those who are interested in attending the event, they can come to the Mississippi Capitol and go to room 216 on the second floor, which is marked by the sign “Mississippi Supreme Court” as it at one time was. The state Capitol is located at 400 high St., across from the Walter Sellers building.
The meeting slated to begin at 1 p.m. on Aug. 28.
For those who cannot attend in person, they can visit the Legislature’s YouTube page and watch the meeting live.
Grant McLaughlin covers state government for the Clarion Ledger. He can be reached at gmclaughlin@gannett.com or 972-571-2335.
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Publish date : 2024-08-19 23:45:00
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