ITS; require to establish minimum cybersecuirty standards for the Statewide Elections Management System.

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To: Technology;
Appropriations A
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE REGULAR SESSION 2026

By: Representative Ford (73rd)

HOUSE BILL NO. 1687

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 23-15-165, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, 1
TO REQUIRE THE MISSISSIPPI DEPARTMENT OF INFORMATION AND 2
TECHNOLOGY SERVICES TO ESTABLISH MINIMUM CYBERSECURITY STANDARDS 3
AND POLICIES IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR COUNTY 4
REGISTRARS AND ELECTION COMMISSIONERS; TO STIPULATE THAT SUCH 5
STANDARDS AND POLICIES AIM TO ENSURE THE INTEGRITY OF 6
MISSISSIPPI'S VOTER REGISTRATION AND ELECTION DATA IN THE 7
STATEWIDE ELECTIONS MANAGEMENT SYSTEM; TO REQUIRE SUCH POLICIES TO 8
BE ESTABLISHED NO LATER THAN JANUARY 1, 2027; TO PROVIDE FOR 9
ASSESSMENTS OF ADHERENCE TO THE POLICIES; TO REQUIRE 10
CONFIDENTIALITY OF INFORMATION; TO GRANT THE STATE AUDITOR'S 11
OFFICE AUTHORITY TO USE SUCH INFORMATION FOR AUDITING PURPOSES; TO 12
ALLOW ITS AND THE SECRETARY OF STATE TO REQUEST RESULTS OF 13
INTERNAL ASSESSMENTS; TO PROVIDE FOR FAILURE TO MEET THE 14
ESTABLISHED CYBERSECURITY STANDARDS; TO AMEND SECTION 23-15-5, 15
MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROVIDE FOR LIMITATIONS ON MONIES 16
FROM ELECTIONS SUPPORT FUND FOR FAILURE TO MEET THE REQUIREMENT OF 17
THIS ACT; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES. 18
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI: 19
SECTION 1. Section 23-15-165, Mississippi Code of 1972, is 20
amended as follows: 21
23-15-165. (1) The Office of the Secretary of State, in 22
cooperation with the county registrars and election commissioners, 23
shall procure, implement and maintain an electronic information 24
processing system and programs capable of maintaining a 25
centralized database of all registered voters in the state. The 26
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system shall encompass software and hardware, at both the state 27
and county level, software development training, conversion and 28
support and maintenance for the system. The Secretary of State 29
shall equip the Statewide Elections Management System with 30
appropriate security measures to protect private information of 31
the registered voter and the integrity of Mississippi elections. 32
This system shall be known as the "Statewide Elections Management 33
System" and shall constitute the official record of registered 34
voters in every county of the state. 35
(2) The Office of the Secretary of State shall develop and 36
implement the Statewide Elections Management System so that the 37
registrar and election commissioners of each county shall: 38
(a) Verify that an applicant that is registering to 39
vote in that county is not registered to vote in another county; 40
(b) Be notified automatically that a registered voter 41
in its county has registered to vote in another county; 42
(c) Receive regular reports of death, changes of 43
address and convictions for disenfranchising crimes that apply to 44
voters registered in the county; 45
(d) Retain all present functionality related to, but 46
not limited to, the use of voter roll data and to implement such 47
other functionality as the law requires to enhance the maintenance 48
of accurate county voter records and related jury selection and 49
redistricting programs; and 50
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(e) When evidence exists that a registered voter may 51
not be a citizen of the United States as provided in Section 52
23-15-15, send notification to the registrar of the location where 53
the person is registered to vote. 54
(3) As a part of the procurement and implementation of the 55
system, the Office of the Secretary of State shall, with the 56
assistance of the advisory committee, procure services necessary 57
to convert current voter registration records in the counties into 58
a standard, industry accepted file format that can be used on the 59
Statewide Elections Management System. Thereafter, all official 60
voter information shall be maintained on the Statewide Elections 61
Management System. The standard industry accepted format of data 62
was reviewed and approved by a majority of the advisory committee 63
created in subsection (5) of this section after consultation with 64
the Circuit Clerks Association and the format may not be changed 65
without consulting the Circuit Clerks Association. 66
(4) The Secretary of State may, with the assistance of the 67
advisory committee, adopt rules and regulations necessary to 68
administer the Statewide Elections Management System. The rules 69
and regulations shall at least: 70
(a) Provide for the establishment and maintenance of a 71
centralized database for all voter registration information in the 72
state; 73
(b) Provide procedures for integrating data into the 74
centralized database; 75
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(c) Provide security to ensure that only the registrar, 76
or his or her designee or other appropriate official, as the law 77
may require, can add information to, delete information from and 78
modify information in the system; 79
(d) Provide the registrar or his or her designee or 80
other appropriate official, as the law may require, access to the 81
system at all times, including the ability to download copies of 82
the industry standard file, for all purposes related to their 83
official duties, including, but not limited to, exclusive access 84
for the purpose of printing all local pollbooks; 85
(e) Provide security and protection of all information 86
in the system and monitor the system to ensure that unauthorized 87
access is not allowed; 88
(f) Provide a procedure that will allow the registrar, 89
or his or her designee or other appropriate official, as the law 90
may require, to identify the precinct to which a voter should be 91
assigned; and 92
(g) Provide a procedure for phasing in or converting 93
existing manual and computerized voter registration systems in 94
counties to the Statewide Elections Management System. 95
(5) The Secretary of State established an advisory committee 96
to assist in developing system specifications, procurement, 97
implementation and maintenance of the Statewide Elections 98
Management System. The committee included two (2) representatives 99
from the Circuit Clerks Association, appointed by the association; 100
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two (2) representatives from the Election Commissioners 101
Association of Mississippi, appointed by the association; one (1) 102
member of the Mississippi Association of Supervisors, or its 103
staff, appointed by the association; the Director of the Stennis 104
Institute of Government at Mississippi State University, or his or 105
her designee; the Executive Director of the Department of 106
Information Technology Services, or his or her designee; two (2) 107
persons knowledgeable about elections and information technology 108
appointed by the Secretary of State; and the Secretary of State, 109
who shall serve as the chair of the advisory committee. 110
(6) (a) Social security numbers, telephone numbers, email 111
addresses, and date of birth and age information in statewide, 112
district, county and municipal voter registration files shall be 113
exempt from and shall not be subject to inspection, examination, 114
copying or reproduction under the Mississippi Public Records Act 115
of 1983. 116
(b) Copies of statewide, district, county or municipal 117
voter registration files, excluding social security numbers, 118
telephone numbers, email addresses, and date of birth and age 119
information, shall be provided to any person in accordance with 120
the Mississippi Public Records Act of 1983 at a cost not to exceed 121
the actual cost of production. 122
(7) The Department of Information and Technology Services, 123
in consultation with the Secretary of State, shall establish 124
mandatory minimum cybersecurity standards and policies for county 125
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registrars and election commissioners to ensure the integrity of 126
Mississippi's voter registration and election data when accessing 127
or exporting information from the Statewide Elections Management 128
System. 129
(a) The Department of Information and Technology 130
Services shall establish such minimum cybersecurity standards and 131
policies no later than January 1, 2027. The cybersecurity 132
standards and policies must include assessments of the county 133
registrar and election commissioners of adherence to the 134
cybersecurity standards and policies. 135
(b) The results of the assessments are confidential and 136
exempt from public inspection, except that the information must be 137
available to the Office of the State Auditor in performing 138
auditing duties. The results of the internal assessments must 139
also be made available to the Department of Information and 140
Technology Services and the Secretary of State upon request. 141
(c) After January 1, 2028, if an internal assessment 142
finds the county registrar or election commissioners have failed 143
to meet the established cybersecurity standards and procedures, 144
that county shall have its use of monies from the Election Support 145
Fund established in Section 23-15-5 limited to ensuring compliance 146
with the cybersecurity standards and procedures. The Secretary of 147
State shall notify the Board of Supervisors of the limitation 148
placed on the county's Election Support Fund monies and shall 149
provide the Office of the State Auditor with a copy of the notice. 150
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Once compliance with the established cybersecurity standards and 151
procedures has been achieved, the Secretary of State shall notify 152
the Board of Supervisors and the Office of the State Auditor that 153
the limitation of Election Support Fund monies is lifted. 154
SECTION 2. Section 23-15-5, Mississippi Code of 1972, is 155
amended as follows: 156
23-15-5. (1) There is created in the State Treasury a 157
special fund to be known as the Elections Support Fund. Monies 158
derived from annual report fees imposed upon limited liability 159
companies under Section 79-29-1203 shall be deposited into the 160
Elections Support Fund. Unexpended amounts remaining in the fund 161
at the end of the fiscal year shall not lapse into the State 162
General Fund, and any interest earned or investment earnings on 163
amounts in the fund shall be disbursed as provided in subsection 164
(2) of this section. The expenditure of monies in the fund shall 165
be under the direction of the Secretary of State as provided by 166
subsection (2) of this section, and such funds shall be paid by 167
the State Treasurer upon warrants issued by the Department of 168
Finance and Administration. 169
(2) (a) Monies in the fund shall be distributed annually to 170
the counties, upon appropriation of the Legislature, based on the 171
proportion that the population of a county bears to the total 172
population in all counties of the state population according to 173
the most recent information from the United States Census Bureau, 174
and held in a separate fund solely for the purpose of acquiring, 175
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upgrading, maintaining or repairing voting equipment, systems and 176
supplies, hiring temporary technical support, conducting elections 177
using such voting equipment or systems, employing such personnel 178
to conduct an election, and training election officials. The 179
counties shall ensure all computers with access to the Statewide 180
Elections Management System are equipped with appropriate security 181
measures to protect private information of the registered voter 182
and the integrity of Mississippi elections, and these funds may be 183
used to purchase such security measures. 184
(b) The Secretary of State shall create standard 185
training guidelines to assist counties in training election 186
officials with the funds authorized under paragraph (a) of this 187
subsection. Any criteria established by the Secretary of State 188
for the purposes of this section shall be used in addition to any 189
other training or coursework prescribed by the Secretary of State 190
to train circuit clerks, poll managers and any other election 191
officials participating in county elections. 192
(c) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no 193
monies from the Elections Support Fund shall be used by the 194
Secretary of State or any person associated with the Office of the 195
Secretary of State to provide or otherwise support expert 196
testimony in any manner for any hearing, trial or election 197
contest. 198
(3) From and after July 1, 2017, none of the monies 199
deposited in the Elections Support Fund may be used to reimburse 200
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ST: ITS; require to establish minimum
cybersecuirty standards for the Statewide
Elections Management System.
or otherwise defray any costs that the Office of the Secretary of 201
State may incur in administering the fund. 202
(4) From and after July 1, 2016, no state agency shall 203
charge another state agency a fee, assessment, rent or other 204
charge for services or resources received by authority of this 205
section. 206
(5) From and after January 1, 2028, any county in which an 207
internal assessment conducted in accordance with Section 23-15-165 208
finds the county registrar or election commissioners failed to 209
meet the cybersecurity standards and procedures established by the 210
Mississippi Department of Information Technology Services shall 211
have their monies limited as provided by Section 23-15-165(7)(c). 212
SECTION 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from 213
and after July 1, 2026. 214