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The Mississippi Secretary of State’s Office has partnered with Experian® to bring a new level of reliable data for county election commissioners to utilize in maintaining Mississippi’s voter rolls.
For many years, Mississippi has relied mainly on the National Change of Address (NCOA) information from the United States Postal Service to identify voters who have moved.
Through this new partnership, county election commissioners will not only receive access to the NCOA information, but they will receive reliable commercial data from Experian’s long history as a credit reporting agency. County election commissioners will also receive information from the Social Security Death Master File for the first time to help supplement the existing processes to identify voters who have passed away.
This new level of data, in addition to agreements with surrounding states to identify dually-registered voters, will continue to build on the accuracy of Mississippi’s voter rolls and strengthen the integrity of elections. Since the United States Census Bureau estimates around 12% of people move each year, it is imperative our office continually receives updated information.
In accordance with Mississippi and federal law, registered voters who have been identified as having a new address will be sent a confirmation card and then placed on “Inactive” status. It is important to understand “Inactive” voters are not immediately removed from the voter rolls and still have an opportunity to vote or correct their registration through the following ways:
If a voter returns the confirmation card and states they have not moved, they will be returned to “Active” status at their current address.
If the voter has moved within the county of their current registration and returns the confirmation card, they will have their voter registration address updated to their new address within the county.
If the voter has moved outside of the county and returns the confirmation card, they will be removed from their previous county’s voter rolls and will need to register in their new county of residence.
If the voter does not return the card, they will remain on the voter rolls as an “Inactive” voter through two federal general elections. During this time, a voter may be moved to “Active” status at any time by updating their information with their county circuit clerk.
Note: an “Inactive” voter who goes to vote on election day will still be given the opportunity to vote by affidavit ballot.
