JACKSON, Miss.—Mississippi election officials will be able to purge names from voter rolls more easily if Gov. Tate Reeves signs House Bill 1310 into law. It would require election commissioners to send a “confirmation notice” to registered voters who fail to vote in any election or update voter information within a four-year period across two presidential elections.
The Mississippi House and Senate passed the conference report on March 28, 2023, with Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson welcoming the effort in a Twitter post that day. “Clean and fair elections are the cornerstone of our democracy. We’ve been working on pieces of this election integrity package from day one. Extremely proud to see it through to the finish line,” he wrote.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi called the bill “disgraceful” and a “back-door attack on voting rights” in a March 28 statement.
“Voting is a right. It is also your right to not vote,” ACLU Executive Director Jarvis Dortch said. “Mississippians shouldn’t be punished for choosing not to vote. This bill is a direct attempt to disenfranchise voters in a state that consistently ranks as one of the most difficult places to vote in the nation.”
ACLU of Mississippi Executive Director Jarvis Dortch described House Bill 1310 as “a direct attempt to disenfranchise voters in a state that consistently ranks as one of the most difficult places to vote in the nation” in a March 28, 2023, statement. AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis
Shuwaski Young, a Democrat who is challenging Watson for Mississippi secretary of state this year, said he opposed the bill in a March 29 statement.
“House Bill 1310 represents a clear and present danger to the sanctity of our right to vote,” Young wrote. “All Mississippians deserve ballot access, and our residents should never be removed from voter rolls because they did not vote in a previous election.”
“Secretary of State Michael Watson and his friends in the state Legislature have perfected limiting folks’ access to the ballot—a history Mississippians know all too well,” he added. “House Bill 1310 is nothing more than a covert voter