Thousands of Mississippi voters who check the state's official polling-place locator before voting on Tuesday could be sent to the wrong building: errors and outdated addresses in the state's election database were still uncorrected on Saturday, October 31, in at least eight counties — three days before an Election Day that will decide a major U.S. Senate race and all four of Mississippi's U.S. House seats.
Source: Mississippi Free Press
The Mississippi Free Press reported on October 23 that local election officials have changed 138 polling places since the 2024 election — most moved, some closed, and several new ones opened. But in 18 instances, the locations or addresses counties entered into the Statewide Election Management System, known as SEMS, were incorrect or outdated. SEMS is the database behind the Secretary of State's “My Election Day” locator tool: whatever the counties type in is exactly what the tool shows voters.
The wrong addresses, county by county
In Neshoba County, Precinct 35 — the Southeast Philadelphia precinct — has moved to the Faith Tabernacle Apostolic church at 321 Williamson Avenue in Philadelphia, Mississippi. But a voter using the locator tool will still be sent to the Philadelphia Country Club at 109 Golf Course Road. Circuit Clerk Delana Waddell confirmed on October 31 that the error had not been fixed. “SEMS address can't be changed until after the election due to machines were already programmed when the precinct became unavailable,” Waddell said. “Only the name has been changed in SEMS at this time.” The Free Press notes that circuit clerks in other counties have corrected SEMS shortly before Election Day in past cycles, and it had not received an answer from the Secretary of State's office by late Saturday on whether programming should really block an update.
In Bolivar County, in the Mississippi Delta, the Shelby precinct actually votes at the Robert T. Hollingsworth Library, 302 West Second Avenue in Shelby — but SEMS still lists its old home, the Shelby Police Station. District 3 Election Commissioner Eulah Peterson told the Free Press on October 31 that the precinct “has been at the library since the police station burned down three or four years ago”; the police department has also been based at the library since the fire. Peterson also surfaced a change the Free Press had not previously identified and which is not in SEMS at all: the Stringtown precinct, at the Old Herbert Store, has closed and been consolidated into the Scott precinct, so its voters will now vote at the combined Scott/Stringtown precinct at the Scott Community Center.
In Oktibbeha County, officials confirmed on October 30 that the Maben precinct's address is still wrong in SEMS: voting happens at Maben City Hall, but the locator sends voters to the Maben Fire Department instead. Officials said they would attempt to correct it. In Jackson County, on the Gulf Coast, the circuit clerk's office says an identified error has been corrected — the Hickory Hills precinct moved from Gautier Church of God to Oak Park Church Liberty Campus, though SEMS still showed the old location in mid-September and the Free Press cannot verify the fix until the Secretary of State sends it a new SEMS report, because the database itself is not public.
Some counties are fixing theirs — others are arguing about whose job it is
Tunica County told the Free Press on October 30 that it has now corrected the locations and addresses of five polling places that had been wrong across multiple election cycles, for several years. In Perry County, former Circuit Clerk Martha Clarke — filling the role after Circuit Clerk Christy Pittman Mayo died on October 22 — said on October 30 that she would attempt to correct longstanding errors for three polling places and confirm once the corrections are made.
Underneath the individual errors sits a dispute about responsibility. Mississippi Secretary of State Communications Director Elizabeth Jonson told the Free Press on October 30 that an elections-team member had reiterated that “the counties are responsible for entering the polling location information or making changes based on a vote by the Supervisors,” and added: “I will follow up with these counties to help them correct if necessary.” The Secretary of State's office has repeatedly said, since the Free Press began fact-checking official voting information in 2020, that maintaining a final accurate list is not its responsibility. In Bolivar County, Commissioner Peterson believed it was up to the Secretary of State's office to update SEMS; told that the state says the job belongs to county officials and is often handled by circuit clerks, she said only that election commissioners do not handle SEMS. Circuit Clerk Judith Thompson had not responded by press time on who owns the task in Bolivar County.
Voting-rights groups are trying to route around the database. Fair Fight Action, Mississippi Votes and the Mississippi Center for Justice are all using the Free Press's October 23 precinct report to inform voters directly. The Center for Justice's Director of Policy and Advocacy, Harya Tarekegn, recalled how, two years ago, advocates struggled to get local or state officials to update SEMS after its information 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.”
Why a wrong address can cost a vote in Mississippi
Mississippi has no universal early voting and only limited absentee options, so for most voters there is exactly one day and one correct building. The Free Press has documented the pattern since 2020: precincts move, voters are not notified, and some who arrive at the old location give up rather than travel to the new one. Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, November 3, and a voter who reaches the wrong precinct late in the day may have no time to cross the county to the right one.
What is solid
- The Free Press identified 18 polling places whose SEMS listings are wrong or outdated, and county officials confirmed specific errors on the record — including Neshoba County's Precinct 35 and Oktibbeha County's Maben precinct — as of October 30–31.
- Tunica County says it has corrected five long-wrong listings, Perry County's acting clerk promised to try to fix three, and Jackson County says its Hickory Hills error is corrected.
What is only claimed
- Who owns SEMS accuracy is disputed: the Secretary of State's office says counties are responsible; at least one Bolivar County election commissioner believed the state updates it. Neshoba County's clerk says its wrong address cannot be changed until after the election because machines were already programmed — a claim the Free Press questioned, noting other counties have made pre-election corrections before.
Do not rely only on the state locator tool. Check your precinct with your county circuit clerk or election commissioners before you travel — especially in Bolivar, Jackson, Neshoba, Oktibbeha, Perry, Sharkey, Smith and Tunica counties — and go early: polls are open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on November 3.
What happens next
The remaining fixes now race the clock. Tunica's corrections await confirmation in a fresh SEMS report, Perry County's three fixes were promised but not confirmed, and Neshoba County's wrong address will, on its clerk's account, still be live on Election Day itself. For voters in the eight affected counties, the safest route on Tuesday is a direct check with the county — because the state's own tool, as of this weekend, cannot be fully trusted to send them to the right door.