Mississippi Secretary of State Challenges Biden Executive Order on Voter Registration

(Daily360.com) -The Mississippi Secretary of State is asking the Biden Department of Justice (DOJ) to stop interfering in their election process. Michael Watson wrote a letter addressed to Attorney General Merrick Garland opposing the DOJ’s enforcement of Executive Order 14019. Watson wrote that the role of DOJ has shifted from law enforcement to voter registration within Mississippi, and as such, the DOJ is acting contrary to state laws.

Watson alleges that the DOJ is so heavy-handed in their efforts to secure new voters that they’ve been aggressively registering felons and likely illegal aliens. The 2021 executive order was heralded as a measure to fight racial discrimination and to “protect the right to vote” for people the government claims have been marginalized. Watson says that is not what is being done in practice; he says what is happening is a co-opting of state regulations.

Watson writes that the use of US Marshalls inside prisons to register voters modifies nearly 1,000 intergovernmental agreements or contracts within the state. He says the DOJ is attempting to act as an intermediary for felons to register and vote via mail-in ballot. Watson says this should not be and was never intended to be the role of the DOJ.

Watson says the way the DOJ is handling these matters could and likely would lead to “numerous opportunities” for ineligible inmates to be sent ballots. Mississippi has rules about who may and may not vote in their elections, Watson said, and the careless approach the government is taking will likely register people in violation of state law.

Watson also asked Garland to identify which nongovernmental organizations (NGO) the DOJ has been using to further their mission in his state. The Mississippi Secretary of State also points out that illegal aliens in prison are likely being registered to vote as well. He said this is an urgent matter that is probably bloating Mississippi’s voter rolls. Watson calls the behavior and spending of tax payer funds by Biden’s DOJ “quite shocking.”