Our Opinion: Don’t Inadvertently Dissuade Mississippi Absentee Voting

Mississippi’s absentee voting law is modest in scope compared to many other states, but Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann has raised concerns about fraud associated with voting absentee. He needs to say with specificity that fraud issues overwhelmingly are about unsecured ballots. Mississippi’s statewide party primary voting is Tuesday, but absentee voting has been in process and ends at noon Saturday. An overwhelming majority of voters don’t commit fraud, and no one in either party has yet proved it is a major issue statewide. Clerical and process errors like missing signatures aren’t necessarily fraud as much as bad memory or not knowing exactly where to sign. Hosemann, who is the state’s chief election officer by function, said earlier that five of Mississippi’s 82 counties are reporting high rates of absentee voting, as much as 14 percent. Hosemann said in a news release that 5 percent to 6 percent of voters usually cast absentee ballots.