Republican lawmakers in Mississippi have sent a bill aimed at ensuring only American citizens can cast ballots in local elections to the governor’s desk, but those opposing the measure warn it may be a form of voter suppression.
Both GOP-led legislative chambers passed Senate Bill 2588, with the votes being split across party lines. While Republicans voted for it, Democrats were unified in opposition. The bill, named the Safeguard Honesty Integrity in Elections for Lasting Democracy (Shield) Act, serves to verify the citizenship of voters through a federal database.
Under the legislation, county election commissioners would have to run a prospective voter’s data through the federal Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) system if the individual lacks a valid driver’s license or another form of documentation proving U.S. citizenship. If the individual is flagged in the SAVE database, he or she would run the risk of being placed in a “pending” category or outright rejected in the voter registration process.
Not to be confused with the SAVE Act — a President Donald Trump-backed piece of legislation that would nationalize elections by requiring all individuals to show proof of citizenship when registering to vote and present an ID when casting a ballot — the SAVE system is a database that law enforcement uses to track noncitizens.
Taking things a step further, SB 2588 requires the Mississippi Secretary of State’s office to run the state’s voter rolls through the SAVE system annually to see if any registered voters happen to be noncitizens. The state agency would be tasked with running the information by county election officials to cross-reference the validity of any alerts to noncitizens who are registered to vote.
County election officials would also have to keep a record of how many prospective voters were flagged and how many registered voters were removed from the rolls and report the list to the Secretary of State’s Office, which oversees elections in Mississippi.
Sen. Jeremy England, a Republican from Vancleave and his chamber’s elections committee chairman, said the goal of the measure is simply to ensure that only American citizens are able to make their voices heard through the ballot box on election day in Mississippi. Despite criticism the bill has received, he said there is neither malicious intent nor a nefarious agenda to disenfranchise voters.
“By running our voter rolls through that, we’re able to identify anybody who’s registered to vote in Mississippi who may not be a U.S. citizen, and we get them off the voter rolls,” England said. “That’s an important thing. We only want U.S. citizens voting in our state.”
Meanwhile, Democratic officials feel differently. The Mississippi Democratic Party issued a scathing rebuke of the bill, accusing Republicans of engaging in Jim Crow-era tactics by implementing a “poll tax dressed up in modern language,” while adding that there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud.
State Sen. Zakiya Summers, a Democrat from Jackson, said the legislation, if signed into law by Republican Gov. Tate Reeves, will place an unnecessary burden on Black citizens, who have been marginalized in elections historically.
“We know exactly who will bear the brunt of it. Black Mississippians, who have historically faced systemic barriers to the ballot, are far more likely to be impacted by bureaucratic hurdles, data mismatches, and limited access to required documentation,” Summers said. “Married, divorced, and widowed women frequently experience name changes that can trigger database discrepancies, forcing them to produce multiple forms of documentation just to prove their identity.”
“Under this bill, that mismatch could mean being placed in a ‘pending,’ status or rejected altogether. Young people who have not yet secured a driver’s license will be left out of the political process,” Summers continued.
SB 2588 now sits on the governor’s desk, where it is expected to be signed into law. If enacted, it will go into effect July 1.