Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law threatens lawsuit over new citizenship voting law
The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law has notified Secretary of State Michael Watson that if action is not taken within 90 days to halt what the organization describes as National Voter Rights Registration Act violations caused by the state’s new documentary proof-of-citizenship law, it will face a lawsuit.
Tyler Drayton, a senior staffer for political advocacy, said the Lawyers’ Committee is joined by a coalition of Mississippi-based and national advocacy organizations, which lay out the specific violations of the NVRA and know the harms this move would pose for voters of color, people with disabilities, the elderly and others.
The Mississippi Legislature during the 2026 session passed a documentary proof-of-citizenship bill that would upend the voter registration process and force certain registered voters to provide documentation or risk disenfranchisement. The bill, SB 2588, was signed into law this month by Gov. Tate Reeves.
Many Mississippians do not have passports or other proof of citizenship. Some do not have ready access to birth certificates, or their married names do not exactly match.
The Lawyers’ Committee noted that the state is at the center of a voting rights fight unfolding ahead of midterms. One state legislator has pushed for possible redistricting pending the outcome of a U.S. Supreme Court case, Louisiana v. Callais, which could undermine Black representation, while another case originating in Mississippi could determine whether mail-in ballots received after Election Day will be counted.
Image: Damon Hewitt, executive director and president of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights (via LCCRUL)
As I understand this bill, it does not apply to registered voters but to new voter applications. The bill reads the following:
"Upon receiving a completed voter registration application, the registrar shall enter the applicant into the Statewide Elections Management System. The registration application shall be compared with the Department of Public Safety driver's license and identification information. If such information indicates that a particular applicant is not a citizen of the United States, the Statewide Elections Management System shall notify the registrar, or his or her designee, that the applicant may not be a citizen of the United States."
Only if inforamtion indicates that a voter applicant is a non-citizen will they be required to show proof of citizenship. Therefore this does not disenfranchise registered Mississippi voters, Black, White, Red or Grey.
I believe this lawsuit is BS and will be thrown out of court.