Thread by @jallen1985

THREAD: Multiple Yazooans say the city is not providing ballots to absentee-by-mail voters ahead of its February 1 primary elections.

A citizen raised the issue at a city council meeting. There was no response. A subsequent response to the Herald does not address the issue. 1/

https://twitter.com/TheYazooHerald/status/1482412335482474500

As set out in the @MississippiSOS training materials for municipal elections,* absentee ballot applications must be available 60 days before an election and absentee ballots must be available 45 days before an election.

*sos.ms.gov/content/docume… 2/

Since Yazoo City's primary elections are on February 1, absentee ballot applications should have been available by December 3, and absentee ballots should have been available by December 18. 3/

However, the city clerk issued a notice posted by @TheYazooHerald* that absentee ballots would be available in person beginning January 3.

That's late, and it only helps absentee-in-person voters, failing to mention absentee-by-mail voters. *facebook.com/yazooherald/po… 4/

Joe Thomas, a mayoral candidate in the D primary, cried foul on January 7.*

Thomas posted that, with less than 25 days left until election day, eligible absentee voters like people temporarily out of town and college students couldn't access ballots.* facebook.com/joe.thomas.587… 5/

Cynthia Walker, who appears to be a mayoral candidate running as an I, also raised an alarm on January 7.*

Per Walker, the clerk said at 9am on 1/7 that absentee ballots weren't available but then said an hour later that envelopes weren't available. *facebook.com/cynthiabonneyj… 6/

Walker raised this issue at the city council's January 10 meeting, @TheYazooHerald reports.

"No response was provided by city leaders since her presentation was made during the public comment portion of the meeting," though. 7/
yazooherald.net/local-content-…

"The city clerk’s office sent a notice to The Herald Tuesday morning that absentee ballots are available to public in their office for the Dem. Primary election to be held on Feb. 1."

That does not speak to voters unable to appear in person, though. 8/
yazooherald.net/local-content-…

It sounds like the ballots are clearly available now since eligible absentee voters can vote absentee in person, so it sounds like the issue is with envelopes.

However, it is not entirely clear which envelopes the city doesn't have. 9/

Absentee-by-mail voters in Mississippi cannot simply write, email, or call the clerk requesting an absentee ballot, and they can't simply print out an absentee ballot application and send it to the clerk. 10/

Instead, voters in Mississippi must contact the clerk to request an absentee ballot application, which is only valid if it contains the clerk's original seal and initials. 11/

So, the clerk must mail the application to the voter in one envelope, enclosing a return envelope for the voter to use after completing the application, which the voter is required to do with a notary.

That's two envelopes so far. 12/

Once the voter completes and notarizes the absentee ballot application and returns it to the clerk, then the clerk will check to be sure the voter did everything correctly and is eligible to vote absentee. 13/

If the clerk is satisfied that the voter did everything correctly and is eligible to vote absentee, then the clerk must, within 24 hours, mail the voter an absentee ballot, enclosing a return envelope.

That's a third and fourth envelope. 14/

The final envelope, which the ballot goes in, must have this text printed on the back.

The voter must go back to a notary to complete this envelope with a notary before enclosing and returning their ballot to the clerk. 15/

Fortunately, a lawsuit challenging the deadline for the clerk to receive mailed ballots back succeeded in getting MS to extend that deadline.

Mail ballots must be postmarked by election day but can be received up to five days thereafter. 16/

In that case, Judge Jordan wrote that it was literally impossible for many voters to successfully complete this arduous process, especially and specifically in the context of runoff elections.

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco… 17/

Depending on the specific problem at issue in Yazoo City now, it may be an opportunity to challenge other aspects of MS's absentee-voter process—like the requirement that voters get the absentee ballot application from the clerk rather than just printing it out themselves. 18/

Alternative to the standard absentee voting process, Mississippi allows overseas voters, deployed military voters, certain disabled veterans, and (during emergencies declared by the president or governor) emergency responders to vote via UOCAVA in all elections. 19/

Those voters are allowed to request, receive, and cast their absentee ballots by email as late as 7pm on election day. 20/

Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson Zoomed into the judiciary committee of the West Virginia House in April 2021 to encourage West Virginia to expand that option to more first responders. 21/

If Yazoo City doesn't get its act together w/ absentee-by-mail voting, then any Yazooans unable to absentee vote in person and who are not eligible to vote using UOCAVA simply won't be able to vote unless they cancel plans, use personal days, fly back from college, etc. 22/

But if voters do make such significant changes to their plans to vote, then they will encounter a different problem, shared by municipal voters in Mississippi at large. 23/

As explained below by Secretary Watson in April 2021, voters' polling places in Mississippi may differ in state/federal elections and municipal elections. 24/

To that end, I compared Yazoo City's polling places* with @MississippiSOS's polling place locator for state/federal elections,** and it appears that at least some voters have different polling places for different elections.

*cityofyazoocity.org/yazoo-city-vot…
**sos.ms.gov/elections-voti… 25/

To be clear, that doesn't mean a polling place has changed—rather, it means that the voter is assigned one polling place for municipal elections and a different polling place for all other elections. 26/

Mississippi provides now way to verify your municipal polling place online, so Yazooans must call the municipal clerk to determine their municipal polling place. 27/

That said, it is imperative that Yazoo City's voters call the Yazoo CITY clerk (runs municipal elections) and not the Yazoo COUNTY clerk (runs all other elections) to determine their polling place on February 1... 28/

...because the voter's assigned polling place in the county clerk's records may not be the polling place where the voter can cast a ballot on February 1, which is a municipal election. 29/

And since this is just having different polling places for different elections, rather than a change in polling places, the voter will receive no notice or reminder that the polling place where they can vote on February 1 is not the same polling place where they last voted. 30/

It is simply up to the voter to figure out and remember that their correct polling place on February 1 may not be their correct polling place in the last election. 31/

Similarly, it will be up to Yazooans who vote on February 1 to figure out and remember that their polling place in Mississippi's Congressional primary elections in June and general elections in November that their correct polling place for those elections may be different... 32/

...from their correct polling place on February 1.

Last year, Secretary Watson described this process as "a burden that should be felt and held by the citizens" in order to encourage voters to be engaged. 33/