SPLC Action Fund: Mississippi HB 4 "Violates a Central Piece" of National Voter Registration Act (NVRA)

JACKSON, Miss. – Today, the Mississippi House of Representatives Apportionment and Elections Committee voted affirmatively to move HB 4, a companion bill to SB 2588, to the floor of the full House. SB 2588 on Tuesday passed out of the relevant Senate committee. The following statement in reaction is by Caren Short, senior staff attorney for the SPLC Action Fund:
 
“Mississippi’s legislators are out-sourcing their agenda to far-right groups intent on harming Mississippi voters. HB 4, a companion piece of legislation to SB 2588, violates a central piece of the landmark National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) which protects voters from being removed from registration rolls simply for failure to vote. If implemented, HB 4/SB 2588 will punish voters in our state with an extreme ‘use it or lose it’ law that allows legislators to choose their electors instead of electors choosing who represents them. These laws will have a disproportionately harmful effect on Black voters, young voters, and lower-income voters.  
 
“Mere weeks after a new state flag began flying across the Magnolia State, legislators are showing voters the values represented in that flag will not show up in their policy. Mississippi is continuing its long history of passing legislation that undermines voting rights and the democratic process.
 
“To remind Mississippi officials: if this legislation is signed to law in its current form, the SPLC Action Fund will consider all its options to ensure that Mississippi voters are not punished for failing to vote.”