New law requires citizenship checks of Mississippi voters against a federal database

When you apply to register, the registrar checks your information against driver’s license records. If those records say you are not a citizen, or you gave no license number and the state cannot find one, you count as a possible noncitizen. The registrar must then run you through a federal immigration database, according to the bill summary the Wire read. That database is SAVE, kept by the Department of Homeland Security, according to Ballotpedia.

If both checks say you are not a citizen, the registrar mails you a notice. You have 30 days to send proof: a birth certificate, a U.S. passport or naturalization papers, the documents an immigrant receives on becoming a citizen. If you do not, your registration sits in ‘pending’ status. You can still vote by affidavit ballot, a ballot set aside until your registration is sorted out, but it counts only if you bring proof within five days.

The secretary of state must also run the whole voter roll through SAVE once a year, at least 180 days before a federal election. Local election commissioners send flagged voters the same notice. A SAVE match alone cannot remove anyone, and no one can be removed because of a SAVE match in the 90 days before a federal election.

Supporters say the law helps ensure only eligible citizens register to vote, the Mississippi Independent reported. The sponsor, Sen. Jeremy England, a Republican, told MPB he does not believe noncitizen voting is widespread but argued the law is needed to bolster public confidence in election integrity. England told the Senate that purging a noncitizen from the rolls would give people ‘more confidence in our elections, I believe,’ Magnolia Tribune reported.

The Wire’s read: the numbers behind it are small. England told the Senate that about 1.7 million Mississippians were registered in the last election and about 15 noncitizens were found on the rolls, Magnolia Tribune reported. Sen. Johnny DuPree, a Democrat, asked why so much attention was going to 15 people, some of whom may have checked a box by mistake.

The bill passed the House 80 to 41 on March 4, with 77 Republicans, two Democrats and one independent in favor, and the Senate 31 to 16 on party lines, according to Ballotpedia. Gov. Tate Reeves signed it April 1 and called it ‘another win for election integrity.’

Civil rights groups argued the checks could disenfranchise eligible voters, MPB reported: naturalized citizens, people who changed a name after marriage, and people with discrepancies in government records. The Mississippi Independent added students who register to vote while attending college in Mississippi. Lydia Grizzell of the ACLU of Mississippi urged Mississippians to keep their records current and watch the mail for notices, MPB reported.

The Wire could not find a published cost estimate for the checks. The Wire’s read: SAVE is a federal system, so the state’s cost is staff time in county registrar offices and the secretary of state’s office, plus the mailed notices.

For a flagged voter, the cost is paperwork: finding a birth certificate, passport or naturalization papers and getting them to the registrar within 30 days.

England told MPB that voters would only be affected if the state flags them as a potential noncitizen, which triggers the documentation process. If you get a letter, you have 30 days to send a birth certificate, a passport or naturalization papers.

If you are a naturalized citizen or you changed your name, check your registration before the Nov. 3 election, the date SuperTalk gave for the midterms. Jade Craig, an assistant professor at the University of Mississippi School of Law, told MPB to confirm your status and mailing address with the county registrar well before Election Day.

In Hinds County, as everywhere else, the registrar sends the notice when you register, and local election commissioners send it after the yearly roll check, according to the bill summary. The Wire could not find how many Hinds County voters, if any, have been flagged.

A federal judge, Sparkle L. Sooknanan, ruled before the law took effect that the expanded SAVE system is unlawful in its current form and cannot be used for voter checks while the case continues, the Associated Press reported. England told MPB the ruling does not necessarily stop the state, because the law refers to the existing SAVE database or any successor system. MPB reported an appeal was expected; the Wire found no later reporting.

The yearly roll check must come at least 180 days before a federal general election. The Wire’s read: for the Nov. 3 election, that date passed in May, before the law took effect, so the first required sweep may not come until 2028. The Wire could not find a statement from Secretary of State Michael Watson on when the first sweep will run.