As Mississippians gear up to cast ballots for a major U.S. Senate race and all four U.S. House seats, some voters could still be sent to the wrong location on Election Day at multiple polling places due to erroneous addresses and outdated information still uncorrected in the state’s system as of Saturday, Oct. 31, 2026.
The Mississippi Free Press reported on Oct. 23 that local election officials had made changes to 138 polling places since the 2024 election, most of which moved locations, though some closed, and several new ones opened. In 18 instances, though, the Mississippi Free Press found that the locations or addresses the counties listed were incorrect or outdated in the Statewide Election Management System.
This publication has since contacted the Secretary of State’s Office about those issues and attempted to follow up with local circuit clerks in the eight counties where those errors were detected: Bolivar, Jackson, Neshoba, Oktibbeha, Perry, Sharkey, Smith and Tunica counties.
Mississippi Secretary of State Communications Director Elizabeth Jonson told the Mississippi Free Press on Oct. 30 that a member of the office’s elections team reiterated that “the counties are responsible for entering the polling location information or making changes based on a vote by the Supervisors.”
“I will follow up with these counties to help them correct if necessary,” the team member added. Since the Mississippi Free Press launched our ongoing fact-checks of official voting sites in 2020, the secretary of state’s office has repeatedly reiterated that maintaining a final accurate list is not its responsibility.
Multiple advocacy organizations are using information from the Oct. 23 MFP precinct report to help inform voters about polling place changes, including Fair Fight Action, Mississippi Votes and the Mississippi Center for Justice.
MCJ Director of Policy and Advocacy Harya Tarekegn recounted how, two years ago, she and other advocates struggled to get local or state officials to update SEMS after the information it provided sent poll watchers to an empty field.
“We got Google Maps to update (the polling place information) because the address was leading to that field. It was easier for us to get Google Maps to change it than the Secretary of State or local officials,” she said today.
An Additional Change Identified in Bolivar County
In Bolivar County, the Shelby precinct is located at the Robert T. Hollingsworth Library, but SEMS still lists it as being at its old location: the Shelby Police Station. The Mississippi Free Press first contacted Circuit Clerk Judith Thompson to inquire about the errors in SEMS, but she redirected the Mississippi Free Press to contact election commissioners for that information instead.
“(The Shelby precinct) has been at the library since the police station burned down three or four years ago,” Bolivar County District 3 Election Commissioner Eulah Peterson told the Mississippi Free Press on Oct. 31.
She, along with District 2 Election Commissioner Dianne Schattner and District 5 Commissioner Ora Jackson, helped confirm the correct address for the library: 302 W. Second Ave. Shelby, MS 38774. The police department has also been located at the library since the fire.
Peterson also told the Mississippi Free Press about another change this publication had not previously identified during previous calls to election officials, and which was not reflected in SEMS. The Stringtown precinct, which was located at the Old Herbert Store, had closed and consolidated into the Scott precinct; voters from the old Stringtown location will now vote as part of the consolidated Scott/Stringtown precinct located at the Scott Community Center.
When asked if she knew why SEMS still reflected outdated information from years ago for the Shelby precinct and why the Scott/Stringtown change was not in SEMS, Peterson said she believed it was up to the secretary of state’s office to update that information. When told that the secretary of state’s office says that responsibility belongs to county election officials (and is often handled by circuit clerks), she said only that election commissioners do not handle SEMS.
The Mississippi Free Press contacted Thompson, the circuit clerk, to clarify who is tasked with keeping SEMS updated in Bolivar County. She had not responded as of press time.
Bolivar County is a majority-Black County in the Mississippi Delta, where about 63% of residents are Black, and 33% are white.
‘SEMS Can’t Be Changed Until After the Election’
In Neshoba County, Precinct 35, the Southeast Philadelphia Precinct has moved to the Faith Tabernacle Apostolic at 321 Williamson Ave. in Philadelphia. But voters who use the state’s polling-place locator tool, which pulls its information from SEMS, to find their polling place on Election Day will instead be sent to the Philadelphia Country Club at 109 Golf Course Road as of Oct. 31.
The Mississippi Free Press asked on Oct. 31 if the error had been fixed. Neshoba County Circuit Clerk Delana Waddell confirmed that it had not.
“SEMS address can’t be changed until after the election due to machines were already programmed when the precinct became unavailable,” the circuit clerk said. “Only the name has been changed in SEMS at this time.”
Circuit clerks in other counties have made corrections to SEMS shortly before Election Day before, though. The Mississippi Free Press has reached out to the secretary of state’s office for comment on whether programming should prevent circuit clerks from updating SEMS to reflect accurate polling-place information before the Tuesday election, but had not heard back by late afternoon today.
Neshoba County, located in East Central Mississippi, has a population that is about 53% white and 24% Black. Philadelphia, the county seat, is slightly majority Black.
Oktibbeha County confirmed on Oct. 30 that the address for its Maben precinct remained incorrect in SEMS, but said local officials would attempt to correct it. That polling place is located at Maben City Hall, but the address in the polling-place locator tool will currently send voters to the Maben Fire Department instead. Oktibbeha, located in Mississippi’s Golden Triangle, has a population that is about 57% white and 36% Black. The town of Maben is majority Black.
Tunica County told the Mississippi Free Press on Oct. 30 that it had corrected locations and addresses for five polling places that have remained incorrect across multiple election cycles for several years now. The Mississippi Free Press has requested an updated copy of the SEMS report to confirm those corrections. Tunica County, located in the Delta in the northwest corner of the state, has a population that is about 77% Black and 19% white.
Former Perry County Circuit Clerk Martha Clarke, who is currently filling the role after Circuit Clerk Christy Pittman Mayo died on Oct. 22, told the Mississippi Free Press on Oct. 30 that she would attempt to correct longstanding errors for three polling places in SEMS and let the publication know once those corrections are made. Perry County, located in the Mississippi Pine Belt, has a population that is about 78% white and 18% Black.
The Jackson County circuit clerk’s office told the Mississippi Free Press that an error the publication identified in SEMS has been corrected. The county’s Hickory Hills precinct was previously at Gautier Church of God, but has since moved to Oak Park Church Liberty Campus. As of mid-September, SEMS still listed it as being at the old location, but the circuit clerk’s office says SEMS has since been updated to reflect the correct polling place. The Mississippi Free Press is not able to verify that change until the secretary of state’s office sends a new SEMS report, since the polling-place information listed in the SEMS database is not publicly available online.
Jackson County is a majority-white county located on the Mississippi Gulf Coast with a population that is about 69% white and 22% Black.
You can browse the table below to see the errors the Mississippi Free Press identified in SEMS as of mid-September. We will update the information as we verify whether or not counties have corrected these errors.
You can see a table of polling place changes in Mississippi here. For a list of all precincts statewide, view our searchable table here.
If your voting precinct has changed this year but is not in our list, you experience any problems with voting, or you think we’ve made a mistake, please email us at voting@mississippifreepress.org.
Follow the Mississippi Free Press’ Trusted Elections Coverage and read past stories here.
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