By now, most of us can agree: clean elections start with clean voter rolls. And Mississippi is showing the rest of the country how it’s done.
Secretary of State Michael Watson has partnered with Experian – yes, the same credit reporting company – to help make sure Mississippi’s voter rolls are accurate and up to date.
This isn’t just a one-time sweep. It’s a full-on, year-round system that uses real data to keep the process honest.
So How Does It Work?
Watson’s team worked with the U.S. Election Assistance Commission to test the program in Lafayette County. Here’s what they did:
Experian pulled information from the Postal Service’s National Change of Address system. That told officials when someone moved. Then they cross-checked with data from the Social Security Death Master File to catch voters who had passed away.
Basically, if someone moved or died, they could be flagged – and the county would send out a confirmation card.
If the voter confirmed they were still living at the same address, nothing changed. If they moved within the county, their record got updated. If they moved out of county or out of state, they were removed from the local voter roll.
If someone didn’t respond at all, they weren’t kicked off right away. They were simply marked “inactive” and could still vote with an affidavit ballot.
That’s a fair system.
Why This Matters
We’ve all heard stories – some close to home in Nevada – about ballots going to wrong addresses or deceased voters still listed as active.
In a state where elections are often decided by just a few hundred votes, sloppy rolls are a big problem.
Mississippi passed House Bill 1310 in 2023 to give Watson’s office the green light to move forward.
The law laid out clear rules and definitions for voter roll maintenance. The full program kicked off statewide in 2024.
The results? Cleaner rolls. Fewer errors. And a more trustworthy system.
Teamwork Across State Lines
Watson isn’t stopping with Experian.
Mississippi also signed agreements with Alabama, Tennessee, and Arkansas to compare voter lists across borders and catch people who are registered in more than one place.
His office is working on deals with Florida and Georgia too.
Why does that matter?
Because dual registration is a real issue. People move but don’t always update their voter records. That opens the door to abuse.
Watson said stopping that kind of thing is one of his top priorities.
It’s Not Just About Voter Rolls
This is part of a bigger plan to keep Mississippi elections safe.
The state has banned ballot harvesting, added post-election audits, and boosted cybersecurity in local offices.
Watson says all these steps together help avoid court fights over close races – and that’s something every state should want.
He’s also making the data public.
Voters can go to the Secretary of State’s website and see voter roll updates every month. That keeps local election officials accountable and helps rebuild public trust.
Nevada: Time to Step Up
Here in Nevada, we’ve seen our share of problems.
Dead voters still on the rolls. Ballots mailed to old addresses. Lawsuits and recounts that shake public confidence.
It doesn’t have to be this way.
If Mississippi can build a smarter system using modern data tools and state-to-state teamwork, what’s stopping us?
Mostly Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar, who has routinely stepped in to block or impede the “Pigpen Project’s” efforts to assist election officials in cleaning up the state’s voter rolls.
Nevada legislators should follow Mississippi’s lead by passing laws that allow access to up-to-date data like the Social Security Death Master File and the USPS change-of-address system.
We should also join regional efforts to find duplicate registrations in other states. And just like Mississippi, our voter rolls should be posted online for the public to see.
Keeping elections secure shouldn’t be a partisan fight. It’s just common sense.
To learn more about Mississippi’s efforts, visit sos.ms.gov.
Then ask your Nevada lawmakers: When are we going to get serious about fixing our own voter rolls?
Because if we want to protect our vote, we have to protect the system.
This article was written with the assistance of AI. Please verify information and consult additional sources as needed.
