Activist calling for early voting in Mississippi

DESOTO COUNTY, Miss. (WMC) - Mississippi is one of only six states in the U.S. that doesn’t offer early voting. But a DeSoto County woman wants to change that.

Activist Kelly Jacobs, along with State Rep. Hester Jackson McCray, filed a ballot initiative Thursday.

It calls for at least 10 days of early voting from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at local clerks offices.

Right now, Mississippi only allows in-person absentee voting for those who are disabled or over age 65.

Jacobs said the long lines during the last election convinced her the state needs to make voting easier and more accessible.

“We live here in DeSoto County. We see you in Tennessee with your early voting,” said Jacobs. “We didn’t get it last year. The governor said he’ll veto it if it comes on his desk. Why does one person get to dictate to us if we have early voting?”

Jacobs expects the Secretary of State’s Office to approve the language in her initiative in the next two months.

She and other advocates need more than 106,000 signatures to get the early voting proposal on the 2023 ballot.

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