Two priorities. One standard: Make the office work.
Elections you can verify
Elections work only when officials have clear standards, practical support, and records that hold up after the polls close. The Archie Case showed what happens when those safeguards fail.
- Set statewide chain-of-custody standards for ballots and voting equipment, with clear rules for seals, custody, tracking, and record retention.
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- Provide standardized training and practical checklists so county officials and poll workers follow the same core procedures and avoid common errors.
- Establish uniform post-election reviews so meaningful discrepancies between machine totals and paper records are identified before certification.
- Direct enforcement authority. The Mississippi Constitution should be amended to give the Secretary of State clear authority to enforce election-administration laws when local officials fail to comply.
Where I stand
Voter ID. Mississippi voters wrote photo ID into our Constitution in Section 249A. I support that requirement, I will defend it, and I will make sure the office gives counties the training and support to apply it consistently, including the protections and exceptions the Constitution provides.
Citizenship verification. Only United States citizens may vote in Mississippi elections. The state should verify citizenship at registration through reliable data, with a clear process for a lawful voter to correct a bad match before anything happens to their registration.
Paper ballots that are actually counted. I am not against machines. I am against machines that count something other than a paper ballot. Every vote should exist on paper, the machine should count that paper, and the paper should be preserved so the result can be checked later. The Archie trial showed what happens when the physical election records are not produced for verification.
Absentee voting. Mississippi law allows eligible voters to vote absentee in person at the courthouse or, in specified circumstances, by mail. I support in-person absentee voting with a witnessed process and a real person behind the counter, and I am not looking to change it.
Keeping the rolls current. A voter roll that carries the deceased for years is not a fraud problem in most counties. It is a records problem. But it is the kind of records problem that lets people question a result, and it is fixable.
A working process for removing the deceased
Here is what I would ask the Legislature for.
- A death data pipeline. Require the Mississippi State Department of Health's Bureau of Vital Records to transmit Mississippi death records to the Secretary of State on a regular schedule, with the statute expressly authorizing the transfer so confidentiality law is not an obstacle.
- Funeral home reporting as a backstop. Require licensed funeral establishments to report deaths to the Secretary of State, so a data gap at one agency does not become a gap in the rolls.
- Matching, then notice, then removal. The Secretary of State compiles verified matches and transmits them to the county election commissioners, who remain the officials responsible for removal. A match on name alone is never enough. Every proposed removal carries a documented basis, and a documented basis is what protects a living voter from being erased by a common name.
- A record that can be audited. Every removal should show who initiated it, on what evidence, and when. If we ever have to explain a decision, we should be able to.
Records you can rely on
Mississippi’s business filing system has faced documented fraudulent formations, deceptive solicitations, and service outages. The 2026 Business Filing Fraud Prevention Act provides a process for dissolving businesses confirmed to be fraudulent. I would build on existing protections with safeguards against unauthorized amendments, stronger filing alerts, and more reliable access to business records.
- Business Identity Lock. Offer businesses an optional safeguard against unauthorized changes to their existing state filings. Covered amendments would require secure approval from a verified owner or authorized representative before acceptance.
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- Stronger filing alerts. Send filing alerts to verified, designated contacts and provide a fast way to flag unauthorized changes.
- Reliable access to business records. Modernize corporate-record systems, maintain tested backups, and provide a public status page during outages.
View Sources
- WJTV: fraudulent business entities created with other people’s personal information (June 2025) (opens in a new tab)
- Secretary of State’s warning on the “Certificate of Existence” mailer scam, which took more than $175,000 (August 2020) (opens in a new tab)
- Lawsuit over deceptive solicitations that affected more than 2,700 Mississippi businesses (August 2020) (opens in a new tab)
- Mississippi Secretary of State: Statement on Secretary of State’s Website Outage (May 12, 2023) (opens in a new tab)
A State That Builds
The Secretary of State should make it easier for Mississippi businesses, entrepreneurs, and innovators to build here.
A front door for entrepreneurs
Because the Secretary of State administers business filings and state trademark registrations, the office is a natural first stop for entrepreneurs. I would make it a practical gateway to information and existing resources that help Mississippians start, protect, and grow businesses here.
- Publish a Mississippi Innovation Resource Guide. Maintain one clear statewide directory of public and private resources for starting, protecting, financing, and growing a Mississippi business, and update it at least annually.
Why this matters
One of Mississippi’s greatest resources in the next century will be the intellectual property we develop here. The Secretary of State’s office should help connect entrepreneurs with the tools, protections, and sources of capital they need to turn new ideas into Mississippi businesses and jobs.
As one of only 22 Mississippi attorneys registered to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office, I understand how patents, trademarks, and other intellectual property protections help businesses protect what they build.
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- Build statewide intellectual property awareness. Work with schools, universities, economic-development organizations, and business groups to connect Mississippians with practical information about patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, and protecting what they create.
- Make the Secretary of State’s office a front door for Mississippi innovators. The office should maintain clear, neutral pathways to federal intellectual property resources, qualified private professionals, business-development organizations, and other existing sources of assistance so entrepreneurs know where to go next.
The standard governing every division
The Secretary of State’s responsibilities extend well beyond elections and business formation. Every division should operate under the same standards of accuracy, accessibility, accountability, and continuity.
Systems the public can count on
When a critical public system goes down with no public accounting of why it failed or when it will be fixed, public trust erodes quickly. Mississippians filing a business record or checking an election deadline deserve better than silence.
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- Reliable backups and tested recovery systems.
- Regular independent security testing, a clear incident-response plan, and vendor accountability.
- Public status information during outages and an after-action report following major failures.
How the office will be managed
Running the Secretary of State’s office well means more than winning the argument in any one courtroom. It means holding every division to a clear, written standard and being honest with the public about how the office is performing.
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- Clear responsibility for every division and core public service.
- Regular internal audits and timely responses to public requests.
- Service continuity and disaster recovery as standing management priorities.
- Respectful, responsive service to counties, businesses, charities, investors, and citizens.
The whole office deserves the same standard
The job reaches far beyond elections and corporate records. The Secretary of State serves as supervisory trustee over the management and leasing of more than 640,000 acres of Sixteenth Section public-school trust lands by local school districts. The office also regulates securities and securities professionals, registers and regulates charitable organizations and fund-raisers, and processes statewide notary applications.
Those responsibilities touch schools, investors, charities, businesses, and families across Mississippi. They deserve the same emphasis on accurate records, dependable systems, clear public information, and accountability.
Why my background matters
Before law school, I obtained a securities license. Combined with my industrial-engineering training, computer-analysis work, and legal practice, that experience gives me practical familiarity with both regulated systems and the people who must navigate them.
Sixteenth Section lands (opens in a new tab) · Securities (opens in a new tab) · Charities (opens in a new tab) · Notaries (opens in a new tab)