Gov. Reeves rebukes idea of early, mail-in voting in Mississippi: ‘Too much chaos’

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) - Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves shut down the idea of no-excuse early voting in a social media post Thursday.

Reeves said he will do “everything in his power” to make sure every ballot cast in Mississippi gets counted but noted that there’s “too much chaos” in other states.

It’s unclear what Reeves defines as chaos.

As of Thursday morning, Mississippi reports 84% of its expected vote. Meanwhile, the races have yet to be called in Nevada, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Georgia and Alaska. AP and Fox News have called the Arizona race, but other news sources have deemed Arizona too close to call.

Pennsylvania, Georgia and North Carolina have already counted a larger portion of their votes than Mississippi despite being too close to call. All three states allow no-excuse early voting.

Currently, 38 states and Washington D.C. allow no-excuse early voting in some form, while five states have all-mail voting.

It’s estimated that nearly 100 million Americans casted early or absentee votes in 2020, by far the most ever.

Without early voting in Mississippi and record voter turnout across America, many saw hours-long waits at their precincts on Tuesday, especially in areas of Hinds and DeSoto counties, which have some of the highest populations in the state.

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