Mississippi: Senate takes step toward campaign finance reform | Clarion-Ledger

The Senate unanimously passed a bill Wednesday that would require Mississippi politicians to itemize campaign spending done with a credit card instead of just listing a lump-sum payment to the card company as many have been doing for years on their public reports. But the chances of further campaign-finance reform appear slim for this legislative session. A continuing Clarion-Ledger special report, “Public Office/Private Gain,” has shown Mississippi politicians spend campaign money on clothes, groceries, trips out of state, cars, apartments, home improvements, payments to their own companies and to themselves and many other personal expenses prohibited in other states and in federal campaigns. For many, campaign accounts appear to have become a second income, funded by lobbyists and special interests doing business with the state.

Mississippi: House would allow online voter registration, early voting | Associated Press

Mississippi voters could register online and vote in person ahead of elections under a bill moving forward in the Legislature. House members voted Thursday to pass three bills that would rewrite Mississippi’s election laws, a proposal pushed by Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann. The package moves to the Senate for more work. Similar Senate legislation died when the body didn’t take it up Thursday before a deadline for actio

Mississippi: Top election officials place blame for ballot change costs | WLOX

The Secretary of State’s Office said it will cost Mississippi hundreds of thousands of dollars to add a name to the Democratic Presidential Primary ballot. On Feb. 25, 2016, the Mississippi Supreme Court ordered the Secretary of State’s Office to add Willie Wilson to the ballot. While Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann’s office appealed the decision, citing already printed absentee ballots, the Supreme Court issued a revised decision placing Wilson on all other ballots for the March 8 primary. The Secretary of State’s Office estimates the change will cost Mississippians hundreds of thousands of dollars. Additionally, it says the state’s Democratic Party is to blame.

Mississippi: Another Democrat added to Mississippi presidential primary ballot | Associated Press

Mississippi is spending about $15,000 to follow a state Supreme Court order and add another Democratic candidate to the March 8 presidential primary ballot, the state’s top elections official said Monday. Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann also said counties could face additional costs totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars. Justices on Thursday ordered Hosemann to list Chicago businessman Willie Wilson on the primary ballot after the state Democratic Party had initially rejected Wilson’s petition to run.

Mississippi: Secretary of State will appeal order to change Democratic primary ballot | SunHerald

Mississippi’s top elections official said Thursday that he will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a state court order telling him to add another candidate to the March 8 Democratic presidential primary ballot. Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann said he intends to file his appeal with the nation’s highest court Friday and he did not know whether it would receive rapid consideration. The Mississippi Supreme Court on Thursday ordered Hosemann to list Chicago businessman Willie Wilson as a Democratic presidential primary candidate. Justices overturned the state Democratic Party’s rejection of Wilson’s petition to run. They also overturned a trial court judge’s decision that had supported the party’s decision.

Mississippi: Elected officials use campaign funds for private gain | Clarion-Ledger

State Sen. Dean Kirby leases a vehicle, pays for auto insurance and gasoline, and buys Braves season tickets with money from his campaign account. He spends thousands a year on a campaign credit card, despite having no opponents for re-election for most of his 25 years in office. He says much of this spending is to cover expenses from serving as a lawmaker. But he also receives thousands of dollars a year from taxpayers for expenses. He received $19,440 last year to cover travel, food and other costs beyond the $23,575 considered salary for the part-time legislative job. Kirby lives in Pearl, just a short distance from the Capitol in Jackson. A Clarion-Ledger investigation shows that for many Mississippi politicians, campaign funds have become personal expense accounts or a second income — potentially tax free. The spending is largely paid for by lobbyists and special interests doing business with state government. They otherwise would not be allowed to lavish cash, gifts or a second income on politicians.

Mississippi: Election-Law Reform May Actually Happen in Mississippi | Jackson Free Press

Election-law reform has been a slow process in Mississippi, but with the help of a bi-partisan committee’s report, that could change soon. Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann formed a committee of legislators, circuit clerks, election commissioners and other citizens to review the state’s election code. The 2016 Election Law Reform Committee met from June through September 2015 and published a report of their recommendations on Jan. 19. The committee suggests several changes to Mississippi’s election code, including online voter registration, campaign-finance reporting and election official conduct. Hosemann views the changes as “phase two” of election-law reform that he says started with the voter-ID laws that went into effect in 2014. Hosemann told the Stennis Press Forum on Feb. 1 that the committee looked at several other state election laws to help inform their recommendations.

Mississippi: Early voting among election changes Hosemann would like to see in Mississippi | Sun Herald

Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann is asking legislators to update Mississippi’s election laws, including allowing online voter registration and early voting at county courthouses. Republican Hosemann unveiled his proposals Tuesday. Voters will be able to change their addresses online as well. “That saves a lot of time and effort and a lot of mad people,” said Hosemann. “The process costs about 83 cents to do it by mail. This will cost us about 3 cents so there’s a big cost savings.” There won’t be online voting, nor voting at shopping centers and the like, which other states have tried. “I’m not going to do that because I can’t tell you it’s secure,” he said of online voting.

Mississippi: House reverses Democrat’s win in race that went to tiebreak | Associated Press

Republicans gained a three-fifths supermajority in the Mississippi House on Wednesday when members unseated a longtime Democratic lawmaker who had won a tied election by drawing straws. The 67-49 vote was mostly along party lines to unseat Rep. Bo Eaton of Taylorsville and replace him with Republican challenger Mark Tullos of Raleigh. Tullos, an attorney, watched the vote from the public gallery of the House. Eaton, a farmer, was on the House floor and participated in the 3½ hour debate because he had been sworn in to begin his sixth term when the legislative session started two weeks ago.

Mississippi: Hosemann proposes ‘complete revision’ of election laws | Jackson Clarion-Ledger

Mississippians could register to vote online and begin voting 21 days before an election without an absentee excuse under a “complete revision” of election laws Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann is proposing to the Legislature. “It is time to address outdated and inefficient election laws which have, in some cases, been on the books for decades,” Hosemann said on Tuesday, releasing his proposals with a Capitol press conference. “These proposals make it easier to cast your ballot, harder for someone to cheat the electorate and provide severe penalties for those who do.” Hosemann recommends tougher, consolidated penalties for election-law crimes, which he noted are almost never prosecuted in part because they are not clearly defined or understood. His proposal would consolidate all election crimes and penalties, making them either misdemeanors with a maximum fine of $1,000 and a year in jail, or felonies with maximum $3,000 fines and up to two years in jail.

Mississippi: Ex-state senator questions election process in 2 counties | Associated Press

Former state Sen. Melanie Sojourner testified Wednesday it was a “great concern” to her that Adams County officials stored absentee ballots and other records in cardboard boxes after the November election. She also argued that her loss in that election should be overturned because she believes poll workers improperly assisted some voters at the Bude precinct in Franklin County. Sojourner testified on the opening day of a hearing being held by a five-member Senate committee that’s considering her complaints about the District 37 race in Adams, Amite, Franklin and Pike counties.

Mississippi: 2 election challenges heading to Mississippi House committee | Associated Press

A Democrat who lost a primary in Pike and Walthall counties and a Republican who lost in the general election in Smith and Jasper counties are trying to have election results overturned so they can become Mississippi House members. Five-term Rep. David Myers said he is confident the House will dismiss arguments from Tasha Dillon, the primary opponent he defeated by 144 votes. “She’s acting as a sore loser,” Myers told The Associated Press by phone Tuesday. “I beat her fair and square — twice.”

Mississippi: House committee set to decide election | Jackson Clarion-Ledger

Four Republicans and one Democrat in the House will hear the appeal of Mark Tullos, who lost a drawing of straws to Rep. Bo Eaton after the two tied in the Nov. 3 election. A spokesman for House Speaker Philip Gunn said the committee could meet as early as this week. Gunn selected the five members from each of the state’s old five congressional districts, as required by state law. The five committee members are state Reps. Jim Beckett, R-Bruce; Linda Coleman, D-Mount Bayou; Mark Baker, R-Brandon; Bill Denny, R-Jackson; and Richard Bennett, R-Long Beach. Nathan Wells, Gunn’s chief of staff, said Monday the speaker won’t make any comments about the election challenge, with the committee having to decide the outcome. “I don’t know the exact time line, but I would expect them to meet very soon,” Wells said.

Mississippi: Democrat Wins Mississippi House Race After Drawing Straw | The New York Times

Sometimes American politics is about ideas, powered by Jeffersons and Adamses and Reagans. Sometimes it is about strategy, with races determined by the chess-match machinations of Axelrods and Roves. But every once in a while, the fate of governments is determined by a considerably less eminent character, one usually found lurking in back-alley craps games and on the Vegas strip: Lady Luck. In Mississippi on Friday, luck smiled on a Democratic state representative, Blaine Eaton II, who had been forced, by state law, to draw straws for his seat after his race for re-election ended in a tie. On Friday afternoon, in a short, strange ceremony here presided over by Gov. Phil Bryant and Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann, Mr. Eaton and his Republican challenger, Mark Tullos, each removed a silver box from a bag. Mr. Eaton opened his box to reveal a long green straw. And with that, a mathematically improbable tie for the House District 79 seat — each candidate had received exactly 4,589 votes — had been broken, though not by the voters.

Mississippi: Hinds County absentee ballots muddle education initiative | The Jackson Clarion-Ledger

The ballot sent out to absentee voters in Hinds County has complicated what many say is an already confusing voting process. According to the sample ballot approved in September by the governor and secretary of state, the two proposed constitutional amendments should be clearly differentiated on the ballot. The options for voters who vote to change the state constitution should read “FOR Initiative Measure No. 42” and “FOR Alternative Measure No. 42 A,” the two dueling education initiatives. However, the ballot sent to absentee voters in Hinds County leaves out the last “A” in “FOR Alternative Measure 42 A,” leading to concerns that voters intending to vote for Initiative 42 could accidentally vote for Initiative 42A instead. 525 ballots have been sent out to Hinds County voters as of Tuesday, according to the circuit clerk’s office.

Mississippi: Robert Gray’s unlikely primary win in Mississippi draws suspicion, shock | MSNBC

John McCain had the Straight Talk Express. Scott Brown had his pickup. Donald Trump has his helicopter – and plane. Some candidates are as well known for how they get around as the races they have run. But trucker Robert Gray and his light-blue big rig may be the most unconventional yet. Gray, whose soft-spoken approach earned him the CB handle “Silent Knight,” shocked Mississippi’s political establishment by winning the Democratic primary for governor this summer, beating two candidates with better funding and political organizations. Experts have offered varying theories as to what happened, from vote meddling to the country’s growing anti-establishment mood, to the possibility that voters simply ticked off the first name they saw on the ballot. … Vicki Slater, a longtime trial lawyer, was expected to win the Democratic nomination with relative ease. According to Slater, she and her staff of six did direct mail, made live and automated calls to voters, earned newspaper endorsements, visited 50 counties, and got the backing of local democratic groups. Even the state party chair, Rickey Cole, was at her announcement. In all, the campaign estimates they spent about $300,000. Robert Gray figures he spent about $50 on gas to go to a handful of events. He won 79 of 82 counties.

Mississippi: Gray’s Democratic Primary victory provides conspiracy theories | DeSoto Times-Tribune

There’s more than a little novelty to a political candidate who doesn’t spend a dime, doesn’t campaign, and doesn’t even vote for himself to win the gubernatorial nomination of a major party — as Terry truck driver and newly-minted Mississippi Democratic Party gubernatorial nominee Robert Gray has discovered. Gray unexpectedly and rather easily dispatched the state Democratic Party establishment-backed candidate Vicki Slater and Dr. Valerie Short on the way to winning his party’s nomination without a runoff. After the brief “who is Robert Gray?” reaction came a torrent of political conspiracy theories as to why Gray emerged from political anonymity to win the Democratic nomination.

Mississippi: Trucker wins Democratic gubernatorial primary after spending $0 | The Guardian

A Mississippi truck driver who claims to have spent no money on his campaign won a nomination to be governor early Wednesday morning. Robert Gray, 46, reported spending zero dollars on his campaign to become the Democratic party’s nominee for governor, and defeated two rivals with 51% of the vote. He told the Associated Press that he did not vote on Tuesday “because he was busy”. In contrast, trial attorney Vicki Slater, reported spending $68,000 in the last month alone, and almost $200,000 this calendar year. Gray won with 146,333 votes, meaning Slater lost by almost 60,000 votes.

Mississippi: Concerns about number of absentee ballots | WREG

Five of Mississippi’s 82 counties are reporting high rates of absentee voting, the state’s top elections official said Tuesday. Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann said about 5 percent to 6 percent of voters usually cast absentee ballots. Hosemann said the rate so far this year is nearly 14 percent in Noxubee County, 11 percent in Quitman County, 8 percent in Claiborne County, 7 percent in Tallahatchie County and 6 percent in Benton County. All five are Democratic-leaning counties.

Mississippi: Hinds County to order 66,000 more ballots than voters | Clarion-Ledger

Hinds County Election Commission Chairwoman Connie Cochran admitted she violated the law by not ordering enough ballots for last year’s general election, so she plans to order approximately 66,000 more ballots than there are registered voters in the county for the August primary. Because of the shortage of ballots in some precincts in November, some voters had to either stand in line for hours to wait for additional ballots to be delivered to the precincts. “We will have adequate ballots for the primaries,” Cochran said. “There is a lot of waste in here. We are throwing away thousands and thousands of dollars, but it is the law.”

Mississippi: Bryant lets suffrage bills stand without signature | Washington Times

In his first term, Gov. Phil Bryant has allowed eight bills to become law without his signature. All have been suffrage bills. Mississippians convicted of certain felonies lose the right to vote. Those who lose their vote have to be pardoned by the governor or go to the Legislature, where it takes a two-thirds majority to restore a person’s suffrage. The Mississippi Constitution lists 21 crimes that take away a convict’s right to vote: arson, armed robbery, bigamy, bribery, embezzlement, extortion, felony bad check, felony shoplifting, forgery, larceny, murder, obtaining money or goods under false pretense, perjury, rape, receiving stolen property, robbery, theft, timber larceny, unlawful taking of a motor vehicle, statutory rape and carjacking.

Mississippi: E-poll books spark controversy | Desoto Times Tribune

A plan put forth by the DeSoto County Election Commission to place a minimum of two electronic poll books at each of the county’s 39 precincts at a total cost of $172,000 has been put on hold for at least another two weeks. The DeSoto County Election Commission has set aside funds to pay for the e-poll books and did not ask county supervisors Monday for any more funds to pay for the new devices. The plan for the new electronic poll books, which would eventually replace paper poll books, was approved by four of the county’s five election commissioners. District 5 Election Commissioner Tina Hill is the lone holdout, saying that she expressed reservations about implementing the e-poll books at the present time, saying that new scanners need to be purchased instead.

Mississippi: Senate Elections Committee: where bills go to die | Jackson Clarion-Ledger

In the Mississippi Senate, elections bills aren’t sent to the Senate Elections Committee for debate and passage. They’re sent there to die. Senate Elections didn’t even hold a meeting this legislative session. Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves and Senate Elections Chairman Chris McDaniel, R-Ellisville, have been at political odds for years, and McDaniel has been back-benched. When Reeves routes a bill to Elections, it’s “double-referred” to other committees first. The bills don’t clear those committees, so McDaniel’s doesn’t even get a crack at voting on them. If there is by chance an elections measure that Reeves might consider, he routes it to another committee.

Mississippi: Restoration of voting rights a piecemeal process | Jackson Clarion-Ledger

Marilyn Watkins of McComb was convicted of shoplifting in 1999 and sentenced to three years of probation. She never had been charged with a crime prior to the shoplifting conviction and hasn’t been accused of any criminal activity since. The one thing her shoplifting conviction cost her is the right to vote. Last week, restoring the right to vote to Watkins was one of four such bills the House Judiciary B Committee voted to send to the full House. “It will mean everything to me to be able to vote again,” Watkins said in a phone interview. “I drive people to the polls to vote, and it hurts that I can’t vote myself. It has been weighing on my shoulders for a long time.”

Mississippi: Timing is everything in calling special election | Jackson Clarion-Ledger

A few Republicans are getting a little antsy over when Gov. Phil Byrant will call a special election to fill the congressional seat held by the late-U.S. Rep. Alan Nunnelee. Several people have said Bryant was originally thinking of setting the election for Aug. 4, which coincides with primary elections for state races. That would make some fiscal sense in that it would save a little money holding all the elections at the same time. However, that idea is not being met with fanfare because more than one state elected official is looking at running for the seat. Nobody likes the idea of running for two offices simultaneously.

Mississippi: Early Voting, Online Registration Could Become Reality in Mississippi | MPB

Mississippians could soon see some changes in the way they vote. A report released by Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann’s office outlines a number of recommendations to change Mississippi’s election laws. The report is the end product of a series of meetings held last summer by a 52 member panel organized to review how Mississippian’s vote, and ways to improve the process. Hosemann says “for a couple of years we have been discussing amendments to the election code [that] really is a mismatch over a period of years has been added onto and subtracted and they are contradicting provisions in there,” says Hosemann. “There are just a lot of things that I have wanted to address.”

Mississippi: NAACP filed federal complaint against Hinds election commission | Clarion-Ledger

After officials admitted to breaking state election law during the Nov. 4 general election, the Hinds County Election Commission is now on the radar of federal, state and local agencies. In late November, the Jackson chapter of the NAACP quietly filed a complaint with the U.S. Justice Department after numerous voters reported being disenfranchised because of ballot shortages at multiple precincts during the election. When questioned by The Clarion-Ledger about the shortages in November, Hinds County Election Commission Chairwoman Connie Cochran admitted that the commission broke state election laws by failing to order the required number of ballots “to save the county some money.” “We took a look at all the options and decided to file the complaint,” said Wayne McDaniels, president of the Jackson NAACP chapter. “We’re also waiting to hear back from the (Hinds County) district attorney’s office.” Mississippi state law requires election commissioners to order enough ballots for 75 percent of registered voters to cast votes.

Mississippi: Hinds County to pay attorney to defend Election Commission | Clarion-Ledger

Hinds County will pay for a lawyer to defend the Election Commission in a lawsuit filed over its failure to order the number of ballots required by state law. But the vote the Board of Supervisors took Monday to do so did not come come without rancor. Jackson attorney Ali Shamsiddeen, who lost the Hinds County circuit judge race by about 4,000 votes to incumbent judge Jeff Weill, filed the lawsuit Nov. 24, claiming the commission’s actions affected the outcome of the election. District 1 Supervisor Robert Graham, who was not present at Monday’s board meeting, suggested Hinds County Election Commission Chairwoman Connie Cochran should have to pay the legal fees herself.

Mississippi: Top election official says state needs to throw out ballot rules | WAPT

One of the top election leaders in the state told 16 WAPT News that the ballot rules need to be thrown out. Gary Knight, the head of the Election Commissioners Association of Mississippi, said the group has worked for years to change legislation that requires precincts to print ballots for 75 percent of their voter population. “It is my opinion that statute is generally a little behind technology,” Knight said. Knight said he has heard about problems with ballots in Hinds County during the Nov. 4 general election. Some voters had to wait for ballots, even after the polls closed, because several precincts ran out.

Mississippi: Unused Hinds ballot money paid for counting machine | Clarion-Ledger

Instead of spending county-appropriated money on the required number of ballots for Hinds County residents to vote in multiple elections, the Hinds County Election Commission purchased a new absentee vote counting machine. While county officials said Tuesday the purchase of the machine was approved by both the county budget office and the board of supervisors, many residents were unable to vote Nov. 4 because of a shortage in ballots. The Hinds County Board of Supervisors asked county attorneys Monday to investigate the actions of Hinds County Election Commission Chairwoman Connie Cochran after she admitted to not ordering the number of ballots required by state law for any of the past four county-wide elections. In defense, Cochran said she was “just trying to save the county money.”