Secretary of State visits Starkville to talk voter education
Mississippi Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann visited Starkville on Wednesday, April 26, and stopped by the SDN office for a Facebook Live interview with SDN editor Ryan Phillips
During the interview, an array of subjects were covered, beginning with the Mississippi Official and Statistical Register — also known as the “Blue Book”. Cur-
rently, the state is working on keeping the 2016 to 2020 edition updated.
“The Blue Book … has 800 pages of information,” Hosemann said.
That includes information from every state agency, every municipality, every governor, all the election, members of the legislature and how their districts are run. The Mississippi Legislature has required the Blue Book to be published since the beginning of the 1900s.
Hosemann’s office provides digital access to the Blue Book, and he said all of the information is also online at the Mississippi Secretary of State’s webpage.
One subject that was largely covered was the process and the Secretary of State’s involvement in voter registration in Mississippi.
“We start by educating our election commissioners,” Hosemann said. “Oktibbeha County has five.”
There is a two to three day seminar election commissioners attend, where they cover and go through state laws.
“We noticed some holes there,” Hosemann.
The first improvement the Secretary of State’s Office tried to make was to implement campaign finances reform. These can be filed and found online.
Another concern Hosemann said they have addressed was voter identification.
“We empowered about 5,000 people to get I.D.s who had never had I.D.s before,” Hosemann said.
The election code was also revised this year.
“So, we don’t have dead people voting anymore, and we have people disclosing where they get their campaign money,” Hosemann said. “And, under the new law, we will be training all of the people that work in the polls.”
There is an online-training process to familiarize workers with election laws, including voting with disabilities. The training is expected to take place within the next four to eight years.
Hosemann said voters should expect short lines and quick casting of ballots at this year’s polls.
“There is no excuse for (voters) not to come,” Hosemann said.
The most common source for confusion regarding voting in a college town is poll locations and absentee voting.
Hosemann used the example that if someone is a student from Vicksburg registered to vote here, they should vote here, but if that person is registered to vote in Vicksburg, they should vote for the election in Vicksburg.
“Now we’re seeing very few absentee ballots, and that’s probably indicative of a low turnout,” Hosemann said.
Registration forms for the state of Mississippi can be found online at the Secretary of State’s website, and can be downloaded, filled out, and mailed to the city clerk’s office. There are 30 days between registration and the ability to vote. While residents that have yet to fill out registration forms have missed the opportunity to vote in the upcoming primaries, there is still time to be registered to vote in the general primary.
Hosemann discussed upcoming plans for the state. After the Blue Book is finished, Mississippi plans to expand the islands and involvement on the Gulf Coast.
“We acquired Cat Island,” Hosemann said as an example. “We want to renourish that.”
There will also be studies on things that should be amended for next year’s legislative session.
Hosemann also encouraged students from Mississippi State University to take the time to call the clerk’s office where they are registered to vote and get an absentee ballot.
“Your future really is in hands of all these people you’re going to hire,” Hosemann said.
Hosemann spoke about the men and women in the United States military who fight to protect the nation’s rights, including the right to vote.
“Today, there are men and women in foxholes in Syria, and they are doing that so you don’t have a nuclear war, or you don’t have people blow up your towers in New York,” Hosemann said. “Even if you don’t care about this (voting), you ought to honor them. How are you going to tell them it is not important to vote?”
SDN shared the interview on Facebook Live. It can still be viewed in full on the SDN Facebook page.