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Federal judge weighs whether state absentee vote-counting law should be struck down before November 

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GULFPORT — A federal judge on Tuesday appeared undecided over whether he should strike down a Mississippi election law that allows election officials to process mail-in absentee ballots up to five days after an election. 

U.S. District Judge Louis Guirola in Gulfport heard arguments from attorneys representing two political parties, a state agency and a veterans advocacy organization over whether the state law conflicts with federal election law.

The state Libertarian Party, the state and national Republican parties and a county election commissioner are the plaintiffs in the suit. They contend the state law runs afoul of federal election statutes because only Congress should set federal election schedules.

Secretary of State Michael Watson’s office, who oversees the agency that administers elections, is the defendant in the suit. His office argues the state law does not conflict with federal regulations and that the political parties have not shown that it diminishes their chances of winning an election. 

The Tuesday hearing centered on the legal definition of Election Day, why America has an Election Day and how much leeway states have in administering federal elections.

“The real dispute here is over the meaning of Election Day,” said Conor Woodfin, an attorney representing the Republican Party plaintiffs.

The state law in question is a 2020 state law passed by the Legislature amid the COVID-19 pandemic that allows local election workers to process mail-in absentee ballots for up to five days after an election. The law only permits workers to count the mail-in votes if the ballots were postmarked by the election date.

Woodfin and Russell Nobile, the attorney representing the state Libertarian Party, argue that Election Day ends when election officials receive the last ballot. Under this logic, they claim the state law violates federal law because it extends the election date.

Special Assistant Attorney General Rex Shannon III, the attorney representing Watson, argued Election Day ends when voters cast their ballots in the mail. Since the law requires voters to mail absentee ballots by Election Day, the law is not extending the election. 

“Once a voter deposits a ballot in the mail, that vote has been irretrievably cast,” Shannon said.

However, a critical issue that could determine the case’s outcome may not be the lawsuit’s merits but rather whether the plaintiffs have legal standing to bring the suit in the first place. 

The litigation comes at a time when voter confidence in elections is at an all-time low and when candidates have started to dispute election results more frequently.

The state Senate passed a bill to repeal the law earlier this year during the legislative session, but it died in the state House. Senate Elections Chairman Jeremy England, R-Vancleave, said it was time to repeal the five-day window because voters did not like that election workers received ballots after an election.

Guirola asked Shannon “out of curiosity” why the bill failed to gain traction during the legislative process. Shannon responded that he couldn’t answer that question because he was not representing the Legislature in the case — only Watson’s office.

“Well, my curiosity will remain unquenched,” Guirola responded.

Chris Dodge, an attorney representing Vet Voice, a veterans advocacy organization that intervened in the lawsuit, said despite how political groups currently feel about the absentee ballot law, several states have post-Election Day ballot receipt laws on the books to accommodate voters.

“These laws are not the novelties these plaintiffs assert they are,” Dodge said.

Guirola did not issue a ruling on any pending motions on Tuesday because he wanted to review relevant case law and reflect on the oral arguments. The senior status judge said there is, “no category of case that is more critical” than a voting rights case. 

“I’m not going to take a vacation or anything,” Guirola said. “This is an important case, and I have to get it right.”

After Guirola’s ruling, an aggrieved party could appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit for a different outcome. But a prompt resolution before November’s presidential and congressional election would be vital. The appellate process is lengthy and time-consuming, and different rulings from the district and appellate courts could lead to voter confusion.

Mississippians can request an absentee ballot application starting September 6, and the earliest day they can vote by absentee is September 23, according to the secretary of state’s elections calendar.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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Crooked Letter Sports Podcast

Podcast: Ohio State won it all, but where would Ole Miss have been with Quinshon Jundkins?

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mississippitoday.org – Rick Cleveland and Tyler Cleveland – 2025-01-22 12:00:00

Lots to talk about on the days after the national championship game, but in Mississippi, especially in Oxford, much of the talk is about what might have been had Judkins stayed at Ole Miss. Also, the Clevelands discuss Egg Bowl basketball, the grueling SEC schedule, the NFL playoffs, and John Wade’s saga at Southern Miss.

Stream all episodes here.


This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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With EPA support, the Corps is moving forward with the Yazoo Pumps

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mississippitoday.org – Alex Rozier – 2025-01-22 11:00:00

Barring any legal challenge, it appears the South Delta is finally getting its pumps.

The U.S Army Corps of Engineers announced last Friday it’s moving forward with an altered version of the Yazoo Pumps, a flood relief project that the agency has touted for decades. The project now also has the backing of the Environmental Protection Agency, whose veto killed a previous iteration in 2008 because of the pumps’ potential to harm 67,000 acres of valuable wetland habitat.

In a Jan. 8 letter, the EPA wrote that proposed mitigation components — such as cutting off the pumps at different points depending on the time of year, as well as maintaining certain water levels for aquatic species during low-flow periods — are “expected to reduce adverse effects to an acceptable level.”

South Delta residents have called for the project to be built for years, especially after the record-setting backwater flood in 2019. State lawmakers from the area rejoiced over last week’s news.

“It’s been a long time coming,” said Sen. Joseph Thomas, D-Yazoo City, explaining that most in his district support the pumps. “I’m sure there are some minuses and pluses (to the project), but by and large I think it needs to happen.”

Sen. Briggs Hopson, R-Vicksburg, recalled that almost half of his district was underwater in 2019.

A car is nearly submerged in flood water in Issaquena County Friday, April 5, 2019. Credit: Eric J. Shelton, Mississippi Today/Report For America

“I’m very pleased that the Corps has issued this (decision),” Hopson told Mississippi Today on Tuesday.

Before the Corps’ latest proposal, the future of the pumps was in limbo for several years. Under President Trump’s first administration, the EPA in 2020 said the 2008 veto no longer applied to the proposal because of Corps research suggesting that the wetlands mainly relied on water during the winter months — a less critical period for the agriculture-dependent South Delta — to survive, and that using the pumps during the rest of the year would still allow the wetlands to exist.

The EPA then restored the veto under President Biden’s administration. But in 2023, the Corps agreed to work with the EPA on flood-control solutions which, as it turned out, still included the pumps.

While the public comment period is over and the project appears to be moving forward, the Corps has yet to provide a cost estimate for the pumps, which are likely to cost at least hundreds of millions of dollars. A 19,000 cubic-feet-per second, or cfs, pumping station in Louisiana cost roughly $1 billion to build over a decade ago, and the Corps is proposing a 25,000 cfs station for the South Delta.

Corps spokesperson Christi Kilroy told Mississippi Today that the project will move onto the engineering and design phase, during which the agency will come up with a price estimate. Mississippi Today asked multiple times if it’s unusual to wait until after the public has had a chance to comment to provide an estimate, but the agency did not respond.

South Delta residents in attendance for a listening session on flooding in the area. Credit: Staff of Sen. Roger Wicker

Under the project’s new design, the pumps will turn on when backwater reaches the 90-foot elevation mark anytime during the designated “crop season” from March 25 to Oct. 15. During the rest of the year, the Corps will allow the backwater to reach 93 feet before pumping.

In last Friday’s decision, the Corps wrote that the project would have “less than significant effects (on wetlands) due to mitigation.” The project’s mitigation includes acquiring and reforesting 5,700 acres of “frequently flooded” farmland to compensate for wetland impacts.

In a statement sent to Mississippi Today, the EPA said that the “higher pumping elevations” — the Corps’ previous proposal started the pumps at 87 feet — and the “seasonal approach” to pumping will reduce the wetlands impact.

However conservationists, including a group of former EPA employees, are not convinced. The Environmental Protection Network, a nonprofit of over 650 former EPA employees, wrote in August that the latest proposed pumping station “has the potential to drain the same or similar wetlands identified in the 2008 (veto) and potentially more.”

“Similar to concerns EPA identified in the 2008 (veto)… EPN’s concerns with the potential adverse impacts of this version of the project remain,” the group wrote.

A coalition of other groups — including Audubon Delta, Earthjustice, Healthy Gulf and Mississippi Sierra Club — remain opposed to the project, arguing that hundreds of species rely on the wetlands during the “crop season” for migration, breeding and rearing.

A radio tower surrounded by flood water near Mayersville Miss., Friday, April 5, 2019. Credit: Eric J. Shelton, Mississippi Today/Report For America

“This action is a massive stain on the Biden Administration’s environmental legacy and undermines EPA’s own authority to protect our nation’s most important waters,” the coalition said in a statement last Friday.

When asked about potential legal challenges to the Corps’ decision, Audubon Delta’s policy director Jill Mastrototaro told Mississippi Today via email: “This project clearly violates the veto as we’ve documented in our comments. We’re carefully reviewing the details of the announcement and all options are on the table.”

In addition to the pumps, the project includes voluntary buyouts for those whose properties flood below the 93-foot mark, which includes 152 homes.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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On this day in 1906

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mississippitoday.org – Jerry Mitchell – 2025-01-22 07:00:00

Jan. 22, 1906

Willa Beatrice Brown served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Civil Air Patrol. Credit: Wikipedia

Pioneer aviator and civil rights activist Willa Beatrice Brown was born in Glasgow, Kentucky. 

While working in Chicago, she learned how to fly and became the first Black female to earn a commercial pilot’s license. A journalist said that when she entered the newsroom, “she made such a stunning appearance that all the typewriters suddenly went silent. … She had a confident bearing and there was an undercurrent of determination in her husky voice as she announced, not asked, that she wanted to see me.” 

In 1939, she married her former flight instructor, Cornelius Coffey, and they co-founded the Cornelius Coffey School of Aeronautics, the first Black-owned private flight training academy in the U.S. 

She succeeded in convincing the U.S. Army Air Corps to let them train Black pilots. Hundreds of men and women trained under them, including nearly 200 future Tuskegee Airmen. 

In 1942, she became the first Black officer in the U.S. Civil Air Patrol. After World War II ended, she became the first Black woman to run for Congress. Although she lost, she remained politically active and worked in Chicago, teaching business and aeronautics. 

After she retired, she served on an advisory board to the Federal Aviation Administration. She died in 1992. A historical marker in her hometown now recognizes her as the first Black woman to earn a pilot’s license in the U.S., and Women in Aviation International named her one of the 100 most influential women in aviation and space.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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