Mississippi Democrats Warn of Surge in Voter Purges Ahead of Registration Deadline

Mississippi Democrats Warn of Surge in Voter Purges Ahead of Registration Deadline

JACKSON, Miss. — With the October 5 voter registration deadline approaching, the Mississippi Democratic Party is warning voters that a growing wave of purges under Governor Tate Reeves could put thousands of eligible Mississippians at risk of losing their ability to cast a regular ballot on November 3.

Mississippi is one of only 22 states that removes voters from the rolls based on inactivity alone, a practice expanded under House Bill 1310, signed into law by Reeves in 2023. Under the law, a voter who skips a single election can be flagged inactive and moved to affidavit-ballot status, then purged entirely after four years without a vote. The bill's most aggressive provisions were inserted in a closed-door conference report, without a public hearing and without protections for deployed military voters.

The party pointed to new data showing the scale of the problem: from January to July 2026, six Mississippi counties, including Lowndes County, saw a combined 68.7 percent reduction, more than 45,000 active voters, in their rolls. Mississippi's use of Experian commercial data to flag address mismatches has also contributed to the removal of more than 50,000 voters statewide, often without their knowledge.

"Mississippians shouldn't have to fight just to stay on the voter rolls," said Mississippi Democratic Party Chairman Cheikh Taylor. "Tate Reeves signed a law that punishes people for missing one election, and now we're seeing tens of thousands of voters disappear from the rolls in a matter of months. That's not routine list maintenance. That's a governor making it harder for his own constituents to be heard."

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