The Senate-passed version of Mississippi's election bill includes (at least) two eyebrow-raising provisions. billstatus.ls.state.ms.us/2020/pdf/histo…
Here I go 👇 1/
Here I go 👇 1/
1⃣ The Senate bill says that voters can cite a general concern about COVID-19 as an excuse to in-person early vote if—and only if—they are under a state of emergency declared by Gov. Tate Reeves. 2/ 
The most recent emergencies declared by Reeves have applied to individual counties, not statewide. So, this language would enable Gov. Reeves to select the counties where voters could cite a general concern about COVID-19 as an excuse to in-person early vote. 3/
This alarms liberal, Democratic, and black voters—especially in light of Cindy Hyde-Smith's 2018 statement that she agrees with others Mississippi Republicans that the law should be used to make voting more difficult in liberal geographic areas in Mississippi. 4/
2⃣ The Senate version of Mississippi's election bill adds the following question at the end of the appication for an absentee ballot:
"( ) I wish to opt out of receiving an absentee ballot for the runoff election ___________________________________________." 5/
"( ) I wish to opt out of receiving an absentee ballot for the runoff election ___________________________________________." 5/
In short, this provision says that If any race on the ballot is not won outright, then absentee ballots in the runoff election will be mailed to voters who left the box blank, whereas ballots will not be mailed to voters who checked the box. 6/
Note: The underscores are in the text of the Senate's version of the bill—that's not a typo by me. It appears to invite the voter to write something into the underlined portion, although the only point that matters is whether the voter checks the box. 7/
It seems unlikely that someone would go to the trouble of casting an absentee ballot in Mississippi—the most difficult state to request and cast an absentee ballot—yet say that if the election goes to a runoff, that the voter would want to sit the runoff out. 8/
Because that scenario is so unlikely, one senator, Hob Bryan, accused the author of the Senate bill of including the provision with the intent to confuse voters. 9/
