Duvalier Malone writes that frequently changing polling places during elections not only confuse, disenfranchise and further alienate Mississippi voters in marginalized communities of color, but also put the state’s democracy at risk.
Duvalier Malone explains that America’s political system could be on the brink of collapse if our current leaders do not come up with an adequate succession plan to properly fill future leadership positions. “Only then can we ensure that our government is truly representative of the people and that the public’s interests are being served,” he writes.
Now that Georgia has sent a clear message, we must pass the John Lewis Voting Right Act immediately, Duvalier Malone writes.
Recently, Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson said that the United States would suffer if more “woke” and “uninformed” college students are registered to vote under President Biden’s executive order on voting which, Watson claimed, included “automatic voter registration.” There are so many wrong things about this statement, it’s hard to know where to start, former Mississippi Gov. and Navy Secretary Ray Mabus writes.
Mississippi’s top election official is worried that the nation will suffer if more “woke” and “uninformed” college students become registered voters. Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson made that remark in a televised interview while describing President Joe Biden’s March 6 executive order on “promoting access to voting.”
Mississippi’s senior U.S. senator, Republican Roger Wicker, is defending a new Georgia law that political and business leaders across the country are comparing to Jim Crow laws that southern states historically used to disenfranchise Black voters.
A century after white Mississippi women gained the right to vote, U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith reminded Black Mississippians of feminism’s painful past last week when she insinuated that the For The People Act, a new federal voting rights bill, could diminish women’s gains.
When it comes to voting, there is no denying a simple fact about Mississippi: our state has refused to eliminate antiquated laws that disproportionately silence Black and young voters. In drafting the state’s constitution in 1890, white lawmakers with mal intent sought to limit the voting power of Black Freedmen by permanently disenfranchising those convicted of a specific set of felony offenses. Black Mississippians are still disproportionately harmed by these measures.
In the seven years since the Holder decision, Mississippi has closed 6% of its precincts, a total loss of 120 polling places across the state. The two counties that have experienced the largest precinct loss since Shelby County vs. Holder are also the two most populous counties in the state: Hinds and Harrison, each with a population well over 200,000.
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The Mississippi Free Press is a project of the Mississippi Journalism and Education Group, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit journalism organization (EIN 85-1403937).