Kate KimberlinMississippi ranked as one of the six lowest states nationally in a report the Center for Election Innovation –– a nonpartisan group –– released on how easy it is to vote in each state.
“The Center for Election Innovation & Research compiled current data from all 50 states and the District of Columbia, indicating whether the state offered mail voting to all voters or required a specific excuse and whether the state made in-person early voting available to all voters,” the report said.
The report ranked the states into three groups via color, with green being the state that offers both mail-in and in-person voting with no excuses. Yellow meant that voters must have an excuse for absentee voting but not in person. Red meant that an excuse is required to vote absentee, and early voting is not available for all voters.
Mississippi is one of six states in the red group, which represents the most difficult states to vote in.
“As legislators are moving forward with such regressive proposals, and citizens — both individual and corporate — are speaking out against these anti-democratic measures, there has been misinformation about which states are offering the easiest access to the ballot for eligible voters,” the report said.
The report also commended how secure the most recent presidential election was and how many high-ranking officials agreed that this past election was integral.
“We owe a debt to the public service of the nation’s election officials, who worked to ensure that all voters could vote conveniently and easily, even in a pandemic, while maintaining the security of the process,” the report said.
The report said the data is accurate as of April 12, 2021, for the next federal election in 2022.
