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Know Your Voting Rights
Do I have to vote for the same candidate for whom I voted in the primaries?
No. You have the right to change your mind. You can vote for any candidate, even if the vote disagrees with your primary vote.
Do I have to vote for every race on the ballot for my vote to be counted?
No. You do not have to vote for every race on the ballot unless you want to.
Do I have to vote all Democratic or all Republican?
No. You can vote for any candidate regardless of his or her party affiliation.
Does my employer have to give me time off to vote?
In Mississippi, there are no laws requiring your employer to give you time off to vote, paid or unpaid. If your employer refuses or cannot provide you with an opportunity to take time during regular polling hours, you may be eligible to vote by absentee ballot (see below. )
My house is in foreclosure. Can I still vote?
Yes. If you are registered and your home is in foreclosure you are still eligible to vote, even if you no longer live at your home address. Even if you have not filled a change of address, you can vote by affidavit/provisional ballot if you moved within the same ward or precinct within 30 days.
I moved since I registered. Can I still vote?
Yes. If you have moved within the 30 days prior to the election within the same ward or precinct, you can vote by affidavit/provisional ballot. If you moved prior to 30 days before the election within the same county but you did not transfer your registration, you are entitled to have your voting registration transferred to your new ward or precinct upon a written request. If you moved to Mississippi from a different state or within the state to a different county more than 30 days before the election, and have not updated your voter-registration records, you may not be eligible to vote.
What are the rules for voting by absentee ballot? What about early voting in Mississippi?
Registered Mississippi voters are eligible to vote by absentee ballot if the fall into one of the following categories:
• Members of the United States Army, Navy, Air Force or Marines;
• Members of the Merchant Marine or American Red Cross;
• Any disabled war veteran who is a patient in any hospital;
• Any civilian attached to and serving outside of the United States with any branch of the Armed Forces, the Merchant Marine or the American Red Cross;
• Any person temporarily residing outside of the territorial limits of the United States;
• Any person enrolled as a student at a United States Military Academy;
• The spouse and dependents of any person described in the six categories above;
• Any person who is a bona fide student, teacher or administrator at any college, university, junior college, high or junior high school or elementary school whose studies or employment necessitates his or her absence from the county on the date of the election;
• Any person who is required to be away from his or her place of residence on election day due to employment with the Mississippi congressional delegation and the spouse and dependents of such person if they will also be away on election day;
• Any person who will be away from his or her county of residence on Election Day for any reason;
• Any person who has a temporary or permanent physical disability and who, because of such disability, is unable to vote in person without substantial hardship to him or herself or others, or whose attendance at the polling place could cause danger to him or herself or others;
• The parent, spouse or dependent of a person who is hospitalized more than 50 miles from his or her residence;
• Any person who is 65 or older;
• Any member of the Mississippi congressional delegation absent from Mississippi on Election Day and his or her spouse and dependents; and
• Any person required to work on Election Day during the times when polls will be open.
Request an absentee ballot in person at your county registrar’s office, by telephone, or in writing. If you’re making the request in writing, you must have requested your
ballot 45 days before the election.
Voters eligible to vote by absentee ballot can vote in person at their county registrar’s office until noon on Saturday, Nov. 1, or can mail their ballots, which must be received no later than 5 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 3.
IMPORTANT: Absentee ballots returned by mail must be completed in front of a witness, and that witness must be a notary public, United States postmaster, assistant United States postmaster, United States postal supervisor, clerk in charge of a contract postal station, or any officer having authority to administer an oath or take an acknowledgment as an attesting witness. If you are submitting an absentee ballot in your county registrar’s office, the registrar can serve as a witness. After marking the ballot, the voter is required to fill out and sign the Electorʼs Certificate, while the attesting witness is required to fill out and sign the Certifi cate of Attesting Witness.
Can I get assistance to vote?
• Yes. If you are blind, physically disabled or cannot read or write, you can request assistance from a polling manager. You must state one of the reasons listed, and then you can pick someone to help you.
• If you do not meet the three criteria listed above, you can bring someone with you
to your polling place to assist you. That person can’t be your employer or your union representative if you’re a member of a union.
• If you are disabled, you have the right to vote curbside at your polling place. You can request that a polling manager bring a voting machine to you, but not all machines can be taken to vehicles.
• Permanently disabled people can register for the disabled voter list with a signed statement from your doctor. Once on the list, you should automatically get an absentee ballot for every election. Contact the Mississippi Secretary of State’s Election Hotline at 800-829-6786 for more information.
I have a felony record. Can I vote?
• Under federal law you have the right to vote for the president and vice president regardless of your criminal record, as long as you are otherwise eligible and registered. The ACLU has a current lawsuit against Mississippi in federal court regarding felony disenfranchisement in the presidential election. As of this printing, however, felons cannot vote if not already registered. Go to the ACLU Web site for more information.
• You may not vote in Mississippi for other national, state or local offices if you have been convicted in a Mississippi court of the following felonies: Armed robbery, arson, bigamy, bribery, carjacking, embezzlement, extortion, felony bad check, felony shoplifting, forgery, larceny, murder, obtaining money or goods under false pretense, perjury, rape, receiving stolen property, robbery, statutory rape, theft, timber larceny and unlawful taking of a vehicle.
• If you have been convicted in another state of these crimes, you can vote in Mississippi if you are an otherwise eligible, registered voter.
• Federal convictions have no impact on your ability to vote in Mississippi.
For additional information, go to ProCon.org and click on Item 6: Felon Voting.
Where can I preview the touch-screen voting machines.
Go to the Touch and Vote Web site for a demonstration.
Where can I go for additional information?
Highly recommended: Election Protection. Created by he Campaign for Fair Elections and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.
The following Web sites also contain lots of Mississippi voter information:
• The League of Women Voters of Mississippi
• Mississippi Secretary of State
