Attorney General Jim Hood issued a memorandum (above) to Mississippi Circuit Clerks and County Election Commissioners on October 24, 2008, concerning potential issues related to 1) challenged ballot procedures, 2) voter assistance and 3) paper and emergency ballots.
Among other instructions, Hood noted “Challenges are sometimes made arbitrarily as part of an effort to disrupt and delay the voting process. Be sure your pollworkers know that when they believe a challenge is frivolous or not made in good faith, they may disregard the challenge and allow the voter to vote normally on the voting device.”
He states that if a first-time voter who registered by mail cannot meet the ID requirement, the HAVA laws provide that “he must be permitted to vote by provisional (affidavit) ballot.”
Hood advises that only blind, physically disabled or illiterate voters may have a person accompany them into the voting booth for help — “only after the voter himself has declared his disability and requested assistance, and the managers of the election are satisfied that the claimed disability exists.”
In anticipation of a record voter turnout, Hood advises that each precinct be supplied with sufficient paper ballots for affidavit ballot situations as well as any voting device breakdowns or malfunctions.
