Mississippi is one of three states without early in-person voting. See efforts to alter that

Mississippi lawmakers heard testimony Wednesday from in and out-of-state election experts that in-person early voting could be implemented with circuit clerks and would increase voter turnout.

During a joint-elections committee hearing Wednesday at the Mississippi State Capitol, Secure Democracy USA Director of Policy Samantha Buckley told lawmakers that 74% of voters in one poll conducted in 2023 support an early in-person voting option. In a poll among the nation's two largest parties, 65% of Republicans and 82% of Democrats supported early in-person voting.

Buckley also said that her organization has found that rural voters use early in-person voting 25% more often than others.

Buckley said the voting option would create less paperwork for circuit clerks' offices to handle than with absentee or affidavit ballots, and lead to shorter lines on election day.

The process for earlier in-person voting would also carry the same security measures as on election day when people need to verify their ID and that they are a qualified elector, Buckley said. The time period for early voting would be about 20 days and end a week before voters head to the polls.

Sen. Jeremy England, R-Vancleave, asked if states that have begun early in-person voting ever went from a red to a blue state, referring to when a state's Republican majority was lost.

Buckley said that has not happened, but that because more people to tend to vote due to poll access being expanded, there could be some shifts taking place.

"I don’t think early voting is a cause of any political shift you may see," Buckley said. "Rather, what you’re seeing is a demographic population change and with that, that may occur, but I wouldn’t point to early voting being the reason for it."

House Rep. Dan Eubanks, R-Walls, asked how an early in-person voting system would work when people from several voting districts might come to the same circuit clerk's office to cast an early ballot, and how those ballots would be counted and sent to the correct polling locations

Buckley said that the security at the circuit clerks' office, as well as the voting machines they use to count the early ballots will be necessary to ensuring the correct ballot is moved to the right polling location.

Mississippi is one of three states that have not yet implemented early in-person voting, joining New Hampshire and Alabama. The state does allow people to vote absentee, but voters need to qualify in order to vote that way. People can also send in absentee ballots via mail as long as they are post marked by election day.

In the 2024 session, England attempted to pass a bill that among other things, would have allowed for early in-person voting. That legislation died in the House.

However easy it is to implement in places that have the correct voting machines, Marion County Circuit Clerk Janette Nolan told lawmakers they need to not make it a one size fits all legislation, and possibly allow some circuit clerks to catch up to early in-person voting through either additional time, funding or other assistance.

Grant McLaughlin covers state government for the Clarion Ledger. He can be reached at gmclaughlin@gannett.com or 972-571-2335.

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Mississippi is one of three states without early in-person voting. See efforts to alter that