Some registered MS voters have to vote affidavit in runoff election. Here’s why.

Some Mississippians who registered to vote on a specific day last month had to or will have to vote with an affidavit ballot in Tuesday’s runoff election, the Secretary of State’s office said on Twitter.

Those who registered to vote on May 31 or postmarked a voter registration application on that date are affected because of an “incorrect calendar selection in the Statewide Election Management System,” the tweet said.

Election officials “will review the voter’s registration and accept affidavit ballot if the effective voter registration date was on or before May 31, 2022.”

Secretary of State Michael Watson said when voter registration falls on a Sunday or holiday, the deadline should be moved to the following business day, which would have been May 31.

“Unfortunately, our office inadvertently missed correcting the date in SEMS and did not become aware of the error until a Circuit Clerk reported it this afternoon,” Watson said.

Harrison County Circuit Clerk Connie Ladner said that she does not anticipate this change delaying the results of Tuesday’s Republican primary between Steven Palazzo and Mike Ezell in the U.S. House race in the 4th Congressional District.

Watson said 187 voters were affected, including 74 in District 4.

“This is the first time this problem has occurred, and our team already has logistics in place to prevent this issue from occurring in the future,” Watson said.

This story was originally published June 28, 2022 at 5:22 PM.