Audio recording is automated for accessibility. Humans wrote and edited the story.
Sonya Williams Barnes, state policy director for the Southern Poverty Law Center in Mississippi, says the “SHIELD Act” being considered by state lawmakers would be an impediment for Mississippi voters and is a solution in search of a problem. The measure is being promoted as preventing non-U.S. citizens from voting in Mississippi, but Barnes notes it’s already illegal for non citizens to vote, the state already has voter ID laws and the new proposal would only make it harder for citizens to vote, particularly senior citizens, rural residents and people who have recently been married and changed their names.