JANS – Voting rights advocates celebrate a significant victory as the Mississippi Legislature rolled back an unlawful restriction placed on voters. 

This legislative change, which took effect July 1, follows a successful lawsuit led by Disability Rights Mississippi, the League of Women Voters of Mississippi, and three individual Mississippi voters. 

In August 2023, a preliminary injunction was secured to block S.B. 2358, a 2023 state law severely restricting Mississippi voters’ right to receive assistance with delivering or returning their ballot. 

As a direct result of this injunction, Mississippi enacted S.B. 2425 in 2024 to correct the flaws identified by the federal district court. 

Under the amended law, voters who need assistance due to disability, blindness, or inability to read or write can choose a person to help them with delivering or returning their absentee mail-in ballot. There are five specific exceptions: Voters cannot receive assistance from their employer, union representative, a candidate on the ballot, a candidate’s family member, or a poll watcher.   

Voters without a disability or inability to read or write may receive assistance from a family member (anyone related by blood, marriage, adoption, or legal guardianship), household member (anyone who resides at the same residence), or caregiver (anyone who provides medical, health care assistance, or other assistance to the voter at a residence, institution, or facility). 

The lawsuit leading to this change was filed on behalf of Disability Rights Mississippi and the League of Women Voters of Mississippi by the Southern Poverty Law Center, Mississippi Center for Justice, American Civil Liberties Union, and ACLU of Mississippi.