Free Mississippi Voter ID cards available

Published 3:30 pm Tuesday, November 1, 2016

Mississippi law requires every voter show a photo ID before casting their votes. 

According to a column by Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann, this will be the sixth statewide election in Mississippi with a voter ID law after the law became effective in 2014. Sixty-two percent of Mississippi voters approved the amendment in 2011. 

Acceptable photo identification includes: a driver’s license; state or federal government-issued photo ID; U.S. passport; firearms license; student photo ID from an accredited Mississippi college, university or junior and community college; U.S. military ID; or tribal photo ID.

Hosemann said that Mississippi residents who do not have the above forms of identification can obtain a free Voter ID card for the election and still vote.

To obtain the Voter ID card, potential voters must visit their local Circuit Clerk’s Office and provide one of the following: an expired but valid photo ID document, birth certificate, social security card, Medicare card, Medicaid card, voter registration card or a recent bill or check containing the voter’s name and current address. 

If none of that documentation is available, Circuit Clerk Office’s can look up voter’s birth information for free, according to Hosemann. 

Hosemann also urges potential voters hindered by a lack of transportation to call 1-844-MSVOTER to arrange free transportation to the Circuit Clerk’s Office.

Hosemann said voters without acceptable photo IDs will still have the opportunity to vote via affidavit ballots. These ballots will be counted so long as the voter presents acceptable photo identification or obtains a Voter ID card at their local Circuit Clerk’s Office by Nov. 16, 2016.

“The Secretary of State’s Office’s goal is to encourage you to participate in choosing our next elected leaders, while still protecting the integrity of elections in Mississippi,” Hosemann said in the column. “Voting makes a difference, so we want to ensure your voice is heard on Election Day.”