Hinds County election commissioners admitted to sharing the wrong voter data with the company they contracted to print ballots, which directly led to the ballot shortages.
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The county election officials under whose watch ballot shortages hampered voting in Mississippi’s largest county said technical mishaps and insufficient training were to blame for election day chaos in November.
At a meeting with representatives from a coalition of statewide and national civil rights organizations, Hinds County election commissioners said Monday that their mishaps caused several polling locations in
The commissioners said they didn’t receive enough specific guidance on how to print the right number of ballots for the populous county’s “split precincts,” polling locations where voters use different ballots based on their residential address.
In a statement after the meeting, Secretary of State Michael Watson said his office was open to providing more training, but that Hinds County was unique in its election management troubles.
“We are always happy to answer questions and will gladly spend time training those who need additional help. Heading into the 2023 election, all 82 counties received the same training and resources from our office,” Watson told The Associated Press. “No other county experienced the issues we saw in Hinds County.”
The five-member Commission agreed to Monday’s meeting after the civil rights coalition said they had failed to provide enough information about what went wrong on election day.
After the meeting, Leah Wong, an attorney for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, said she hoped the Commission would agree to future meetings ahead of the 2024 election.
“Clearly, there are a lot more things to troubleshoot to be better for 2024. We are looking forward to working with them,” Wong said.
Harya Tarekegn, policy director for the non-profit legal group Mississippi Center for Justice, said Hinds County could have smoother elections with the right policy changes.
“That’s what people fought for during the Civil Rights Movement, that’s what people continue to fight for,” Tarekegn said. “Our ancestors fought for it, we continue to fight for it, and there will be a day when Mississippi runs the best elections. When Hinds County runs the best elections.”
