Secretary of State explains affidavit ballot process in Mississippi Senate race

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) - Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson estimated that between 12,000 and 20,000 affidavit ballots remain uncounted in the state’s Senate race.

State law does not require election commissioners to give the Secretary of State’s office an initial affidavit ballot total. Commissioners must process and certify the ballots within 10 days.

Estimate based on historic numbers

Watson said his office reviewed historic numbers and talked to counties.

“Look, it could be, and this is a large gap, I think it could be somewhere between maybe 12,000 to 20,000,” Watson said. “Our current acceptance rate, which is another important piece there, is 76%.”

Watson said that number is likely higher than usual. He said the reason is voter roll maintenance.

Election commissioners handle voter rolls

Watson’s office does not change a voter’s status on the voter rolls.

“Your elections commissioners are in charge of cleaning the voter rolls,” Watson said.

The state shares information with the counties. The most recent information came from Experian data.

“They’ve got to verify the information by law before they make any changes,” Watson said. “So sometimes you may see a commissioner who says, you know what, I see this. I’m going to go ahead and make the change prior to verifying it. I’m not throwing them under the bus, but I’m telling you some things that could happen.”

Watson said the system is working as intended.

“The key piece there is when you vote affidavit, it will catch that error. That is the safety net. And the most important part here is we’re making sure we’re cleaning up our voter rolls to make sure there isn’t voter fraud,” Watson said.

What voters need to do

Voters who cast an affidavit ballot because they did not have a photo ID have five days to show it at the courthouse. All other affidavit voters do not need to go back.

Watson encouraged anyone with questions about the process to get involved. By law, county election commissioners must review and decide on affidavit ballots in open public meetings. Members of the public can attend in person to watch the process.

You can track your absentee or affidavit ballot here. But Watson notes that information/status won’t show up until your county election commissioners input those details in the statewide system.

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