Mississippi inactivates at least 50,000 voters using unverified Experian address data; thousands vote by affidavit in a close Senate race (2025-Nov. 2026)

Case

Since July 2025 Mississippi's Secretary of State has supplied counties with unverified Experian "Best Address" data, and a Mississippi Today analysis found at least 50,000 voters inactivated over address conflicts. Voters were found inactive at the March 2026 primaries and the Nov. 3 general election, and thousands cast affidavit ballots in a close U.S. Senate race. Officials say the process is a safety net for election integrity; critics and experts say the data is unreliable and voters bear the burden of fixing errors. No court ruling, racial or income breakdown, or finding of intent has been reported.

What the reporting documents
The Secretary of State's office paid Experian $50,000 for one year of access to a tool providing a "Best Address" for each person, plus U.S. Postal Service change-of-address and Social Security death data. Mississippi Today reported the tool did not include voters' credit account information, though its address data draws partly from Experian's consumer credit database.
Starting in July 2025, the office gave county election commissioners statewide unverified addresses from the data, and commissioners used them to inactivate voters who appeared to have moved under a 2024 state law allowing inactivation based on "reliable information." The office ran about 1.9 million checks on registered voters.
A Mississippi Today analysis of state voter records found at least 50,000 voters were inactivated over address conflicts since the statewide rollout. The number wrongly inactivated is unknown, and the office did not fulfill a public-records request on how many voters the data was used for.
Experian told the U.S. Election Assistance Commission that it does not verify residency, and its contract with the state said it could not guarantee the accuracy or reliability of its data. Mississippi law sets no specific reliability standard.
Lafayette County commissioners piloted the data in 2024 and said they warned the Secretary of State's office that it contained incorrect addresses; the office later expanded it statewide.
Mississippi law requires only a single confirmation notice before inactivation. Notices went to the Experian addresses, and at least one voter's notice was returned undeliverable. Mississippi Today noted Montana, Maryland and West Virginia, which also use credit data, send verification notices before changing status.
Voters reported finding themselves inactive at the March 10, 2026 primaries, and Scripps News reported voters marked inactive in error before the Nov. 3 general election, including one who said he had not moved in a decade.
WTVA reported more than 10,000 people were removed from the voter roll before the election and told to vote by affidavit. Secretary of State Michael Watson estimated 12,000 to 20,000 affidavit ballots remained uncounted in the Senate race, with a 76% acceptance rate so far.
Advocacy groups One Voice and the Mississippi Poor People's Campaign said 230,107 Mississippi voters were marked inactive, about one in nine voters; this total includes voters made inactive by ordinary non-voting rules, not only the address checks.

Not established in the sources reviewed
None of the sources reviewed reported a racial or income breakdown of the voters inactivated through the address checks, and none reported a lawsuit, audit or legislative challenge as of Nov. 6, 2026.
Mississippi Today found Republican-leaning voters were also affected, though it was unclear whether errors affected Republican primaries; no Republican official was quoted criticizing the program.
Election researcher Thessalia Merivaki told Scripps News there was no evidence of anything sinister and that the data was simply bad.

Who is affected: general context, not a Mississippi-specific finding
The Mississippi Free Press quoted an expert saying African Americans are on average more mobile and have lower incomes than white Americans, and that both traits correlate with falling off voter rolls, usually through moving. It cited Census data that families below the poverty line are 50% more likely to move within a year than those above it.
The same article contained no race or income breakdown of Mississippi's inactive voters and reported no lawsuits, formal complaints or agency investigations as of Oct. 28, 2026. Brenda Wright of the Legal Defense Fund called the inactive designation another unnecessary burden on voters.

Senate race and legal posture (as of Nov. 5-6, 2026)
At 5 p.m. ET on Nov. 5, AP showed Democrat Scott Colom ahead of Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R) by 1,822 votes; by early Nov. 6 the lead was reported as 2,493 votes (about 0.27%) with 97% reported, and the AP had not called the race.
Estimates of uncounted affidavit ballots varied: 8,000 to 12,000 (a Nov. 5 estimate in Democracy Docket's live coverage), about 17,000 plus 3,000 mail ballots (state GOP chair Mike Hurst), and 10,000 to 15,000 (the Colom campaign); the Secretary of State's office said it had no definitive number.
Voters must cure affidavit ballots with acceptable ID by Nov. 10; late mail ballots postmarked by Election Day can arrive through Nov. 10; counties must certify by Nov. 13.
Mississippi has no recount process; after certification a candidate can examine ballot materials and, if issues turn up, file a legal challenge.
On Nov. 5, Republicans sent a letter demanding officials segregate and preserve provisional ballots and election records; Colom's counsel replied that the demands were baseless under state law. No lawsuit had been reported filed in the sources reviewed.
Hurst said Republicans would use every legal option if evidence of violations emerged; the Colom campaign called the GOP letter a "desperate stunt."

Perspectives

Official position — Secretary of State Michael Watson (R)
Watson has called the inactivations a cornerstone of election integrity and described the rollout as \"wildly successful.\" He says county election commissioners, not his office, are in charge of cleaning voter rolls and must verify state-supplied data, that the Experian data is a tool counties can choose to use, and that affidavit ballots act as a safety net that catches errors. His office told Mississippi Today that earlier reporting caused unnecessary confusion, and it did not answer questions on how it verified the data's reliability.

Expert view — Voting-rights attorney Amir Badat, researcher Thessalia Merivaki and the Center for Democracy & Technology
Experts say credit-bureau address data was never designed for maintaining voter rolls, that no one has tested its reliability, and that the state never showed a serious review before calling it reliable. They say mismatches can make eligible voters appear to have moved and leave voters to fix errors themselves; an Election Assistance Commission study named the timeliness and quality of credit-bureau data as a primary concern.

Critic — Mississippi Poor People's Campaign, One Voice and the Rankin County NAACP
These groups say most voters on the inactive list come from poor and low-income communities that are less likely to reach the polls, and that commissioners are not answering calls or emails about statuses. They argue voters should not have to struggle to find this information. These are advocacy claims; the groups' demographic analysis is not published in the sources reviewed.

Editorial read — The Author (site author)
The Author's view: using credit-bureau addresses to inactivate 50,000 or more voters was a malicious act that targeted lower-income people and people of color, who are more likely to move often (for example after evictions), and whose registration may sit at a stable relative's address that differs from where bureau records place them. The Author considers this illegal. This is the site author's judgment about motive and legality. The sources reviewed document the inactivations and the unverified data but do not report a demographic breakdown, evidence of intent, or any court ruling.

Defender — Mississippi Republican Party chair Mike Hurst and Hyde-Smith's lawyers
Hurst says Republicans will \"fight like hell\" to make sure every legal vote is counted, calls the volume of affidavit ballots much higher than normal, and says Republican-aligned lawyers will use every legal option if evidence of legal violations emerges. Hyde-Smith's lawyers asked officials to separate, secure and preserve the affidavit ballots, and Hyde-Smith said she would continue as senator. This is the campaign's stated position; no court has ruled on it.

Note
Secretary of State Michael Watson (R) says the cleanup protects election integrity and that affidavit ballots catch errors. Whether the practice violates state or federal law, who was disproportionately affected, and any intent are unestablished.

Sources
[1] Mississippi Today — Mississippi SOS paid Experian $50k for voters' consumer data (https://mississippitoday.org/2026/04/21/secretary-of-state-experian-credit/) · 2026-04-21
[2] Mississippi Today — Unverified credit data knocked legitimate voters off rolls for primaries (https://mississippitoday.org/2026/03/25/unverified-credit-data-knocked-voters-off-rolls/) · 2026-03-25
[3] Scripps News (via ABC15) — As Mississippi's vote count drags on, voters say they were marked inactive in error (https://www.abc15.com/politics/america-votes/as-mississippis-vote-count-drags-on-voters-say-they-were-marked-inactive-in-error) · 2026-11-06
[4] WTVA — Confusion grows over affidavit ballots in Mississippi (https://www.wtva.com/2026/11/06/confusion-grows-over-affidavit-ballots-mississippi/) · 2026-11-05
[5] WLBT — Secretary of State explains affidavit ballot process in Mississippi Senate race (https://wlbt.com/2026/11/06/secretary-state-explains-affidavit-ballot-process-mississippi-senate-race) · 2026-11-06
[6] Mississippi Public Broadcasting — Over 230K Mississippi voters still marked inactive days before midterm elections (https://www.mpbonline.org/blogs/news/over-230k-mississippi-voters-still-marked-inactive-days-before-midterm-elections/) · 2026-10-29
[7] Mississippi Free Press — Thousands of Mississippi voters are marked inactive. Here's what you should know. (https://www.mississippifreepress.org/thousands-of-mississippi-voters-are-marked-inactive-heres-what-you-should-know/) · 2026-10-28
[8] Democracy Docket — Live: Mississippi Senate race heads toward ballot fight (https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/live-updates-mississippi-senate-race-heads-toward-ballot-fight/) · 2026-11-05
[9] ABC News (via ABC7) — What to know about recounts in Mississippi with razor-thin margin in Senate race (https://abc7news.com/story/what-know-recounts-mississippi-razor-thin-margin-senate-race/20017446/) · 2026-11-05
[10] Yahoo News — How the Mississippi Senate race between Scott Colom and Cindy Hyde-Smith got so close (https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/article/how-the-mississippi-senate-race-between-scott-colom-and-cindy-hyde-smith-got-so-close--and-what-happens-next-212946040.html) · 2026-11-06

Connections

Related — Election claims tracker: fraud allegations, federal actions and what the evidence shows (Nov. 2026 midterms)
State-level voter-roll maintenance dispute in the Nov. 2026 midterms.

Related — Mississippi Senate race and Experian-linked inactive voters (update, Nov. 10, 2026): 15,547 affidavit ballots processed, 76% accepted, Colom ahead by about 2,500
Update to the published topic with Nov. 10 ballot counts and legal status.