Lily Moens, policy and research director at the Mississippi Votes Action Fund, told the Mississippi Free Press that her organization has received several reports about people not being allowed to watch election officials count votes. She emphasized that reports that the public are excluded from vote canvassing are not true.

“It is a public process,” she said. “So, we want to make sure that folks are aware that this is supposed to be an open, public process and they are permitted to go and observe. We’re seeing varying levels of information that’s being shared with the public when they actually go in.”

State Reporter Heather Harrison has won more than a dozen awards for her multi-media journalism work. At Mississippi State University, she studied public relations and broadcast journalism, earning her Communication degree in 2023. For three years, Heather worked at The Reflector student newspaper: first as a staff reporter, then as the news editor and finally, as the editor-in-chief. This is where her passion for politics and government reporting began.
Heather started working at the Mississippi Free Press three days after graduation in 2023. She also worked part time for Starkville Daily News after college covering the Board of Aldermen meetings.
In her free time, Heather likes to sit on the porch, read books and listen to Taylor Swift. A native of Hazlehurst, she now lives in Brandon with her wife and their Boston Terrier, Finley, and calico cat, Ravioli.