Photos by Eric Truman-Reeves for ‘Sipp Talk Media
CANTON, Mississippi — It took Natt Offiah an hour to realize he had arrived at the wrong location to monitor the provisional and absentee ballots in the Mississippi U.S. Senate race. He drove to Madison County Circuit Clerk’s Office on Wednesday, but the building was under construction.
After a phone call, Offiah, director of organizing for the People’s Advocacy Institute, and his colleague finally reached the temporary clerk’s office. They were redirected again, shared Offiah, still unable to locate officials.
At the next building, one woman said, “I haven’t seen them in an hour or so,” before directing the organizers down a hallway.
Offiah said he banged on the door, to no avail. The duo sat outside the room for 45 minutes before heading back to the front desk. A receptionist then told Offiah about two dozen staffers had left 15 minutes before his initial arrival.
No one could provide him any information on when they would return to continue counting votes.
“There is no standardized process for counting. Each county can pick and choose when they want to start counting. So, we’re running into this runaround issue,” Offiah said.
His experience mirrors the dozens of other volunteers who say they didn’t sign up for chaos and confusion, but to protect the democratic process. Some — who reported their concerns in group chats shared with Capital B — say they’ve been denied a seat to observe the process, while others struggle to find information.
With the nation’s close eye on Mississippi, advocates say it’s even more critical to ensure election officials “do the right thing.” Voters have been on edge since Election Day, waiting to see who will become the state’s next U.S. senator.
Despite no early voting or online registration, turnout and absentee ballots have surged. As of Nov. 6, Democrat Scott Colom leads Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith by over 2,500 votes.
Yet, there are still thousands of mail-in and affidavit ballots outstanding.
LEFT: Complicating Mississippi’s vote count is there is no uniform process on how officials conduct affidavit ballot counting. RIGHT: Erin Shirley Orey takes notes as affidavit ballots are counted.
Issues like voter ID laws and inoperable machines have fueled delays, said Lydia Grizzell, policy and advocacy manager of ACLU of Mississippi.
“It is appalling the number of issues that we’ve seen and we had on Election Day, and now we’re seeing the extension of that post-Election Day in a way that is not great,” she said.
The Mississippi secretary of state’s office did not address the monitors’ allegations of being shut out of the vote counting process, but told Capital B the public is entitled to be present for the counting of ballots, the process where election commissioners announce which affidavit ballots are accepted or rejected, according to state statute. This does not include the preliminary work commissioners do to determine a voter’s eligibility.
There is no uniform process on how officials conduct affidavit ballot counting. In some counties, where ACLU dispatched attorneys, election officials had a closed door process, Grizell added.
“The best thing that we can do is have people watching, witnessing, and doing their best to gather as much information as possible as to what is happening,” she said.
Volunteers across the state are being deployed in a widespread effort prompted by several grassroots organizations. The NAACP has also deployed national legal, policy, and field staff to the state to make sure every vote is counted.
Both candidates sent their own groups to monitor the process and assembled a group of lawyers who are prepared to take legal action if necessary. Lawyers for Hyde-Smith sent a letter to election commissioners requesting “immediate separation, secure custody and preservation of all affidavit ballots.” Following Hyde-Smith’s legal team’s response, Colom’s legal counsel sent a letter to all 82 counties, calling the GOP senator’s demand unlawful.
State’s voting landscape complicates vote monitoring
Ahead of the election, thousands of Mississippians were moved to inactive status because the secretary of state’s office paid $50,000 to use unverified data from credit bureau Experian to clean out voter rolls. Secretary of State Michael Watson told Mississippi Today that the rollout of the commercial data was “wildly successful.”
This unprecedented number of inactive voters led to more affidavit ballots, prolonging the count, Tarekegn said. These ballots must be “cured”, meaning to correct issues with voter identification or mail-in ballots, by Nov. 10.
Organizers also pointed out that Mississippi’s outdated voting system exacerbated the counting issues. With no early voting, most ballots come in on Election Day. This overwhelms the system. Still, Tarekegn praised Mississippians for the high turnout.
“Mississippi is one of the hardest, if not the hardest, state to vote in,” she said. “We’re truly talking about probably more than 90% of the people having to show up on Election Day between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. to cast their vote.”
From DeSoto to Lee County, voter confusion unfolds
On Election Day, Rachel Madden was the 20th person in line at her precinct in DeSoto County. After an hour’s wait, she was told she had been made inactive and needed to vote by affidavit.
“She just told me that my name wasn’t in the system, and I was like, ‘Well, that doesn’t make any sense,’” Madden said.
She hadn’t changed her address, so she was confused why she had been flagged as inactive. The poll worker assured her, “It’s not a big deal, you’re like the second person this has happened to,” she said.
She said she was instructed by the poll worker to go to the courthouse to “cure” her ballot after being given a form. She made the 25-minute drive to the courthouse, where the employee informed her she had been inactive since May by District 1 Election Commissioner Laura Edler because of Madden’s supposed move to nearby Memphis, Tennessee.
Madden says she never moved anywhere. Her address was corrected in the system and she received a new voter card.
She recalls she then called to ensure her ballot was accepted. She said that an employee told her they would not be taking any more calls about affidavit ballots for the next 10 days, which would put Madden outside the deadline of ballot curing.
“I was like, in 10 days, it’s not gonna matter,” Madden said. “Even in person that day, they were not helpful. If I had not insisted, I don’t think they would have done it. I just don’t think that’s fair or right.”
Edler did not speak to any individual’s standing, but told Capital B that when the commission receives a change of address from the secretary of state’s office, then the voter will be notified and must rectify the issue or remain inactive.
Ballot monitors say it’s also been difficult to do their jobs.
In DeSoto County, Kelly Jacobs, a local organizer, said District 4 Election Commissioner Sissie Ferguson prevented her from watching as election officials presorted ballots and checked names.
The day after the election, Jacobs said she stopped by the election’s commissioner office, but learned they had changed locations. She then traveled to the police department, which directed her to the new location.
After being barred from entry, Jacobs called an attorney, who affirmed her rights, but officials continued to block her from observing, she said, which she captured on video. Commenters on the video state that they were allowed access to observe vote counting in other counties.
On Nov. 5, around noon, the public was able to monitor the process, but by then, the process had already started, she said. Jacobs is not confident officials will follow the law.
“Why did I have to go and complain? If not for my complaint, they would still be all locked up [in the room],” she said. “There’s five election commissioners. Why would none of them know the open meetings law?”
Ferguson did not respond to Capital B’s request for comment. However, commissioner Edler said no one has been denied access. As of the afternoon of Nov. 6, she said there’s “a room full of people” who were actively watching the process.
In Lee County, about 100 miles away, a monitor reported that an official told them a count wouldn’t happen until “later this week or early next week,” according to a group chat shared with Capital B. Another volunteer was told it would occur on “Thursday morning” with no additional details.
Offiah, although still battling frustration and confusion, said he is looking forward to continuing the good work with the community.
“As a lifelong Mississippian, I am used to us living in a legacy of constantly fighting back, and this is just in alignment with our legacy,” he said. “And people ask folks from Mississippi, why do we live down here? Why do we stay out here with everything that we’re facing?”
He added: “But we’re fighters, and we won’t ever stop fighting.”
