Mississippi Governor Signs Legislation Prohibiting Ballot Harvesting

Mail-in ballots that Julie Ann Nieman found discarded near Highway 17 in the Santa Cruz Mountains in Calif. on Nov. 10–11, 2022. (Courtesy of Julie Ann Nieman)

Mississippi Republican Gov. Tate Reeves signed a bill on Wednesday banning ballot harvesting in the state.

“Regardless of where you vote, or how you vote, you deserve to have the utmost confidence in the integrity of our elections,” Reeves said. “That’s because free and fair elections are a key pillar of our republic.”

Senate Bill 2358 will prohibit political operatives from trafficking large amounts of absentee ballots to direct an election.

Those in favor of collecting multiple ballots for people who aren’t voting in person, mostly Democrats, argue that it helps those who can’t get to the polls, such as the disabled and disenfranchised.

“This bill will make all of you criminals if you go and assist anybody with getting an absentee ballot. And that’s wrong,” state Rep. Willie Bailey told House members during a March 7 debate. “It is no good. It is part of a system going around the country, suppressing people’s right to vote in a democratic society.”

However, Reeves, who is running for his second term this year, argued that the process of ballot harvesting “is an open invitation for fraud and abuse.”

“Across the country, we’ve seen how bad actors have used ballot harvesting to take advantage of elderly and vulnerable voters in other states, all so they can try to circumvent our democratic process and cut you out of it,” Reeves said. “But here in Mississippi, we’re just not going to let that happen. Here, we will make it easy to vote and hard to cheat.”

‘Extensive and Inclusive Voter Fraud’

In 2020, President Joe Biden seemed to admit that his team had planned “the most extensive and inclusive voter fraud organization in the history of American politics.” Media fact-checkers claim this statement was taken out of context.

In Dinesh D’Souza’s 2022 documentary “2000 Mules,” cellphone signal tracking, digital geo-fencing, and video surveillance tapes of absentee ballot drop boxes were used to show that paid operatives called “mules” illegally trafficked thousands of absentee ballots.

Ballot harvesting was the central culprit in the allegation that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.

Reeves said Democrats were advocating for ballot harvesting throughout the United States.

“This is nothing more than a blatant political power grab, and we must continue standing up to them,” Reeves said. “Mississippians believe in honest elections. We reject attempts to cheat and we reject ballot harvesting.”

The legislation, which takes effect in July, prohibits anyone other than an election official, a postal worker, a family member or caregiver, or a common carrier from transmitting a ballot that was mailed to another person.

The bill specifies that no delivery parcel shall contain more than one ballot.

It expands on 2022’s House Bill 1510, which prohibited illegal immigrants and non-citizens from voting, Reeves said, in addition to blocking “Zuckerbucks“ from funding elections.

On March 7, the House passed the mostly Republican-supported bill with a vote of 73–44. On March 14, the Senate passed the bill with a vote of 33–13.

Steven Kovac and The Associated Press contributed to this report.