Candidates visit Jackson State during Meet the Candidates Forum

Photo: Michaya Draper

Kyler Patton
Staff Writer

On Sept. 19, a few candidates running for office in the Nov. 7 Mississippi elections had a chance to speak to Jackson State University students during a Meet the Candidates forum held on Constitution Day.

The forum was a chance for students to get to see candidates and hear exactly what they planned to do in the various positions and how they could help students and Mississippians see the change that they wanted to see.

The candidates in attendance were Secretary of State candidates: Republican Michael Watson and Democrat Ty Pinkins; Lieutenant Governor candidate: Democrat D. Ryan Grover; Mississippi Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce candidate: Democrat Robert Bradford; Attorney General candidate Democrat Greta Kemp Martin; Central District Public Service Commissioner candidate: De’Keither Stamps; and Mississippi State Auditor candidate: Democrat Larry Bradford.

Many of the candidates in attendance focused on telling those in attendance how they wanted Mississippi to stop being last and what they planned to do to make that happen.

Since the 2020 election, all states have been trying to increase voter turn-out and make sure that voting is more accessible to everybody. This issue was touched upon by all of the candidates, but was stressed by both candidates running for the office of Secretary of State.

Incumbent Sec. of State Watson said, “As y’all just saw in the primaries, we had roughly 30 percent voter turnout in our races. That’s the lowest it’s been since 2007 in our state.”

Watson said he planned to change this and get young people involved in voting and politics at an early age.

“We just started our student ambassador program at the Secretary of State’s office. Last year we had 56 high school seniors, this year we have 67,” said Watson.

Democratic Secretary of State candidate Pinkins also touched on making voting more accessible in his speech.

“Mississippi is tragically the toughest state to cast a vote…They denied us online registration and early voting,” said Pinkin, who stated that this could make voting easier and more accessible to the working people of Mississippi.

While voter turnout for the primaries was abysmal, according to worldpopulationreview.com, Mississippi is one of the states with 80 percent of eligible voters registered to vote.

Decisions in the Mississippi General elections will take place on Nov. 7. Election results will be posted on The Flash website.