STARKVILLE – Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson is helping craft national election policy for the White House, a position in which he hopes to sway President Trump against banning mail-in voting nationally.
In August, President Trump went to social media platform Truth Social with plans to lead a movement to get rid of all mail-in ballots.
Speaking to Rotarians at Starkville Rotary Club’s meeting Monday, Watson simply said, “I did not advise him on that.”
“Different states do it differently, and I think that’s the important piece of that, is the policy decision should be made at the state level,” Watson told The Dispatch following the meeting. “… Those folks elect their leaders, and that’s how the laboratories of freedom work. So it’s a tough one, but I don’t think the federal government should be forcing the states to change.”
Watson was sworn in as secretary of state in 2020. The secretary of state’s office is responsible for regulation of businesses, management of public lands and oversight of state elections.
In January, Watson was asked by the White House to organize a group of other secretaries of state to help inform and craft federal election-related executive orders and legislation.
Since then, his team has met with members of the White House policy team, intergovernmental affairs staff and any other officials who have “a piece of elections in any form or fashion,” putting Mississippi at the “tip of the spear” in election policy decision-making.
Watson said his focus has been providing insight into what’s working in Mississippi and on making the case for why election decisions should largely remain in states’ hands.
“We should not have executive orders that are forcing states to do things because as we understand the Constitution and the federal law, elections rest at the state level,” Watson told The Dispatch after the meeting. “There are limits. … Congress can interplay, but for the most part, the states are the ones making the decisions with elections.”
Watson’s involvement at the national level comes on the heels of several changes to Mississippi’s own election policies, which has helped bring the state’s election integrity ranking up to 11th in the country, from 30 in 2020. Those rankings are conducted by conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation.
Post-election audits, which began last year, review voting machines, ballot accounting reports, sale logs and absentee ballots. Watson said the audits have helped clean up voter rolls and have provided valuable training for county election officials.
“What we have seen is some counties … interpret laws a little bit differently than others,” Watson said. “… So these post election audits are allowing us to either see what’s going on, if there are things that are messed up, but also that opportunity … to train them better. So if they’re not understanding what the law actually says and how they’re supposed to do something … we catch it. No. 2, we then can train them better to run an election process.”
He also pointed to the Mississippi Voting Modernization Act of 2022 as a major step forward. The legislation requires voters to use paper ballots, ensuring a paper trail and adding another layer of security to the voting process.
Watson also discussed Mississippi’s House and Senate efforts to clean up dilapidated housing across the state, particularly in Jackson.
The secretary of state’s office received funding from the legislature last year to address dilapidated properties, which has not been funded “properly” since 2016, Watson said. With that, the House has launched a committee focused on getting these properties back on tax rolls.
“You’re going to see some of that activity, probably in Starkville and a few other areas, but Jackson’s been a real big focus on that,” Watson told Rotarians.
Watson also announced plans to run for a new position in 2027, though he did not share what the position would be.
“I’ll be announcing for something next year that is not Secretary of State,” Watson said. “… Anybody that tells you, my age, that they would never consider something else is lying to you. … If there’s a job where I feel like I can do a good job and Mississippi will benefit from that hard work, then let’s take a shot.”
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