Secretary of State Watson pushes help for HB 1310 that will grant authority to conduct post-election audits.

Upon taking workplace as Mississippi’s 36^th Secretary of State, I swore an oath to uphold the Mississippi Structure and faithfully discharge the duties of my workplace. I don’t take this duty frivolously and imagine we must always all work collectively to make sure the legislation is adopted, and Mississippi maintains free and honest elections. Because of this, I’m asking in your help of Home Invoice 1310 which might additional protect the integrity of Mississippi elections.

By way of the model of HB 1310 we help, our workplace could be granted authority to conduct post-election audits. In keeping with Part 114 of the Mississippi Structure, returns of all elections by the individuals shall be made to the Secretary of State in such method as shall be offered by legislation. Presently, the Secretary of State’s Workplace doesn’t have specific authority to conduct any kind of evaluation to make sure elections processes happen throughout the confines of the legislation.

The workplace’s statutory authority is at present restricted to offering coaching to elections officers, amassing marketing campaign finance and lobbying stories, managing the statewide voter registry, amassing election returns, and aiding native election officers in finishing up their election-related tasks. With the passage of HB 1310, the Secretary of State’s Workplace could be allowed to audit elections procedures together with, however not restricted to: dealing with of absentee ballots, dealing with of affidavit ballots, testing of machines, and so forth.

Merely said, post-election audits would permit a evaluate of the actions of these tasked with conducting elections for the only real goal of preserving the integrity of Mississippi elections. Our workplace would work with county election officers to judge procedures and spotlight areas by which our counties are doing nicely, and, in areas the place these procedures should not being met, work with the counties to implement corrective measures to stop a recurrence.

The idea of post-election audits shouldn’t be an untested theoretical concept. Mississippi is trailing the remainder of the nation so far as implementation of such audits. Over 40 states have already carried out some kind of post-election audit. Alabama, Maine, and South Dakota are a number of others who’ve additionally not carried out this safeguard.

Different election safety measures encapsulated in HB 1310 embody a pilot for danger limiting audits, further funding for enhanced cybersecurity, processes by which circuit clerks and election commissioners might higher preserve voter rolls, and the flexibility to evaluate all registered voters to make sure solely U.S. residents are voting in Mississippi elections. An analogous citizenship invoice was handed through the 2022 Legislative Session however solely included the suitable to evaluate new voter registrations.

Guaranteeing free and honest elections shouldn’t be a Republican or Democrat concern, it’s an American one. I encourage you to hitch me and our state legislators as we work to uphold one among our biggest liberties by making it simpler to vote and more durable to cheat. As all the time, be happy to achieve out to me or my workforce ought to you’ve any questions.