Mississippi’s rollout of unverified address data from the credit-reporting firm Experian led to some registered voters being marked inactive and prevented from voting in the March 10 congressional primaries, Mississippi Today reported.
Thomas Minor, who said he had voted in every election for 12 years, showed up to his polling place and found his name missing from the poll book. Mississippi Today reported that county officials made him inactive last August after Experian data placed him at an address about 160 miles away in Tchula. “At that point, you lose voters,” Minor told Mississippi Today.
Mississippi Today reported the secretary of state’s office broke from the official government data most states use and gave counties the unverified consumer data in July as an additional tool to check addresses. The news organization identified numerous voters affected across the political spectrum and said counties mailed required inactivity notices to the unverified addresses provided by Experian, where some voters do not live.
The secretary of state’s office declined Mississippi Today’s repeated requests for an interview. Assistant Secretary of State Elizabeth Jonson wrote by email that the office is “not in the habit of using journalists as a pass-through for disseminating information, particularly when misconstrued.” Secretary of State Michael Watson told Mississippi Public Broadcasting the rollout was “wildly successful” and “a really successful partnership,” Mississippi Public Broadcasting reported. Mississippi Today reported Watson is a Republican who has signaled interest in a higher office.
Election officials and voters told Mississippi Today that being marked inactive forces voters to cast signed paper ballots that are subject to review and may not be counted. Minor said poll workers handed him a paper-ballot form but did not provide a ballot to mark, and he left without voting. In Oktibbeha County, Elections Deputy Clerk Regina Sykes told Mississippi Today her office has corrected the statuses of “a lot” of voters who were mistakenly made inactive. Voters and voting-rights advocates said the errors created barriers to the ballot box.
