Mississippi getting $34 million to modernize elections

By MELISSA M. SCALLAN   Biloxi SUN HERALD   01 March 2005

LONG BEACH - This year will be the most important for election reform, Secretary of State Eric Clark said Monday night.

States must clean up voter rolls and buy new voting machines in accordance with a federal act, Help America Vote, passed in October 2002 by Congress. The provisions of the act go into effect Jan. 1, 2006.

Clark said the federal government will spend $4 billion helping states improve their elections, and Mississippi's portion is $34 million.

Clark was the guest speaker at the monthly meeting of the Council of Governments, and he told the group that the state plans to purchase a computer that will link all of the counties to the Secretary of State's Office.

That way, people who are registered in more than one county can be d from rolls in counties where they no longer live.

Also, Clark said, the deceased and those in jail need to be removed.

"Most folks think people should only vote if they're above ground," he said, drawing a laugh from the crowd.

Clark said voter rolls are supposed to be purged yearly, but not all counties do that.

"Having clean voter rolls is the most important factor in preventing voter fraud," he said. "And the biggest problem with fraud occurs in absentee ballots."

If the Legislature will pass voter identification, that would help reduce fraud, Clark said.

"I think it's time," he said. "We ought to be able to work this out and pass a voter ID bill everyone can live with."

Counties also must have new voting machines by next year.

"Our intent is to make a state purchase rather than each county negotiating and buying its own machines," he said.