Hosemann stated that “Mississippi’s elections aren’t rigged” and “will not be rigged in a week.” The state officials will be under additional scrutiny this election year due to allegations of voter fraud by Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. Last week, Gov. Phil Bryant repeated the claim to Paul Gallo on Supertalk radio, calling the election “rigged.” Hosemann explained that the state’s voting booths are not connected to the internet. Hosemann compared them to calculators that can only count up what has been entered. Hosemann stated that voting machines were not connected to the internet for the first time. “The Russians will not steal your vote. My circuit clerks and I joked the other day about how we were going to send out a lot of photos of Putin to all the election officials. Hosemann reminded voters that it is illegal for anyone to take a selfie in the voting booth. Because of the possibility that selfies could be used to confirm votes for certain candidates, state lawmakers have passed legislation banning this practice. Hosemann stated that, despite what Justin Timberlake may have done, Mississippi does not allow selfies. Timberlake took a selfie at a Memphis voting booth to encourage voters. Like Mississippi, Tennessee has a law that prohibits the practice. According to the Secretary of State, there were instances when people calling in to request to change their absentee ballots had cast ballots prior to the election. He said that voters who wish to alter the vote they cast through an absentee ballot can visit their local voting station on election day to cancel their absentee vote, and to cast a new one. He said, “All that stuff is to me, dampening that fact that we must elect the President of America.” “Go to the polls. That’s who will be elected.” The voter who goes to the polls is the one that wins.” Both state law and the National Voter Registration Act put the maintenance of voter rolls in control of five elected election commissioners from each county. These commissions are responsible to organize precincts within their respective counties. This responsibility includes making sure that the voting booths work properly, there is enough paper ballets available, and appointing at least three poll managers to each precinct. Toni Jo Diaz is the Harrison County district one election commissioner. It’s a full-time job that lasts for a year. The purging voter records is one of her most important tasks. Diaz stated that we must search for these people. We must send a voter notification card if we are unable to find them. You can mark them as inactive and wait for the card to return. It takes four years to purge a voter’s name. If the voter is inactive for more than two consecutive federal election, then commissioners can remove the name from the voter rolls without any written notice from them or the secretary-state’s office. Diaz stated that there is a 90 day hold period prior to the election which prevents systematic purging. There are other ways to purge names from the voter roll: * A voter can notify the commissioners that they have moved outside of their county. The commission can then vote to remove the voter. The commission can vote to take someone off the voter rolls if the secretary of state notifies them that the person has reregistered in another state or county. She will also inform the commission if the deceased person has been notified. Diaz stated, “I take care my district, but we work on everyone’s district.” This is done together and then we vote. Do you think this person should be expelled? So forth and so forth.” Hosemann stated that elections are “human y’all.” It’s a human effort. We know it won’t be perfect but we do our best to make it better than 99.7 percent.”