This story was produced as part of the Pulitzer Center’s StoryReach U.S. Fellowship.
When voters head to the polls for Mississippi’s 10 legislative special elections on Nov. 4, some will be going to different polling places than in past elections. A Mississippi Free Press investigation found that, among the 18 counties where voters are participating in Tuesday’s elections, county election officials have made changes to polling places in 16 precincts since 2024.
Officials have moved 12 polling places, including three polling places in DeSoto County, one in Forrest County, five in Hinds County, one in Madison County and three in Tallahatchie County. You can browse through the polling place changes in the list below:
Officials have also closed one precinct in Madison County, one in Panola County and two in Tallahatchie County, as seen in the list below:
The Mississippi Free Press identified the precinct changes by making a public records request to the Mississippi Secretary of State’s office for a copy of the Statewide Elections Management System’s list of polling places.
The reporters made calls and sent emails to circuit clerks and election commissioners, in all 18 counties where voters will be going to the polls on Tuesday, to confirm the information in the SEMS report and to ask whether there were any additional changes that SEMS did not reflect.
Election officials make polling place changes for a variety of reasons. Tallahatchie County Circuit Clerk Daphane Neal told the Mississippi Free Press on Oct. 30 that precincts have changed for practical reasons.
The polling place for the Sumner Beat #2 precinct, for example, moved from its old location to Butler Funeral Home because of construction. And in Sumner Beat #5, which was located at the R.H. Bearden Elementary Parent Center, “the roof is leaking and they’re afraid it’s going to fall in on someone,” she said; that precinct moved to the Webb Fire Department.
Panola County Circuit Clerk Heather Turner said that although she only updated SEMS this year to reflect that the Patton Lane precinct had closed, it has been closed for several election cycles. She said she updated the SEMS to reflect the closure after she took over as circuit clerk in December 2024, following her election to the position last November.
Errors in SEMS Can Send Voters to the Wrong Polling Place
The Mississippi Free Press’ investigation also uncovered 11 precincts where the polling place address and location listed in SEMS are incorrect, including one in Bolivar County, one in Forrest County, three in Perry County, and six in Tunica County. The examination also showed that Hinds County has corrected an incorrect address for one of its precincts in 2024.
The full list of incorrect addresses is below.
When counties enter incorrect information into SEMS or fail to update outdated information, that can cause problems for voters on Election Day. While the SEMS list of polling places is not public-facing, the state’s My Election Day online polling place locator tool can send voters to the wrong location on election day if the information the tool pulls from SEMS is inaccurate.
State officials are not involved in changing polling places or in keeping SEMS updated. While the Mississippi Secretary of State’s office oversees election administration and provides election worker training, local election officials determine precinct locations and are in charge of keeping SEMS updated with the latest polling place information.
“I do think it’s important for people to know that though we house SEMS, the data that’s put into SEMS comes from our counties, especially when it comes to our poll locations,” Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson said in an Oct. 21, 2024, interview with the Mississippi Free Press. “So those are coming directly from the ground on the county level, and those—the county supervisors, the (circuit) clerks—are the ones who decide where those precincts are.”
During the interview, the Mississippi Free Press asked Watson about the possibility of a legislative fix that would require counties to keep SEMS updated with accurate information.
“The Legislature can do what they want to, for sure. Being a former member of the (Mississippi) Senate, if that’s their will, they can pass anything they want to when it comes to a statute like that demanding those changes be up to date,” he said.
The secretary emphasized that most local election officials “are really good about” doing their jobs and keeping information up-to-date, but said his office has taken steps to train and work with local election officials to ensure better compliance.
During the 2025 legislative session, the Mississippi Legislature passed and Gov. Tate Reeves signed a bill into law prohibiting county election officials from changing polling places within 60 days of an election except in exigent circumstances. Mississippi House Rep. Zakiya Summers, D-Jackson, first introduced the legislation in 2024, after the Mississippi Free Press reported on how Hinds County officials moved two Jackson polling places just hours before voters headed to the polls for that year’s party primaries in 2023.
The Mississippi Free Press has been investigating polling place changes in the state since 2020. Previous MFP investigations found 55 polling place changes between the 2020 primaries and 2020 general election; 70 polling-place changes between the November 2020 general election and the June 2022 primaries; 28 changes between the June 2022 primaries and the November 2022 general election; 164 changes between the November 2022 election and the August 2023 primaries; four changes between the August 2023 primaries and the November 2023 general election; 10 changes between the November 2023 general election and the March 2024 primary elections; and 54 changes between March 2024 and November 2024.
Voters on Tuesday are choosing state senators in eight Mississippi Senate districts and state representatives in two Mississippi House districts.
View our Senate special elections candidate guide and our House special elections candidate guide for more information on the candidates and to view maps showing the locations of each district.
If your voting precinct has changed this year but is not in our list, you experience any problems with voting, or you think we’ve made a mistake, please email us at voting@mississippifreepress.org.
All 10 special elections will be held on Nov. 4. Runoff elections are scheduled for Dec. 2 for races where no candidate earns a majority of the vote on Nov. 4. Only the two candidates with the most votes move to the runoffs.
Any eligible registered voter who registered in person or had their voter registration application postmarked at least 30 days before the election can cast a ballot.
Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Contact your local circuit clerk or election commissioner for polling place information. Voters must bring an accepted form of voter ID to the polls. For more information, visit sos.ms.gov/yall-vote.
