Mississippi local officials say human error and poor training led to election-day chaos

By MICHAEL GOLDBERG
Associated Press/Report for America

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The county election officials under whose watch ballot shortages hampered voting in Mississippi’s largest county said technical mishaps and insufficient training were to blame for election day chaos in November. Hinds County election commissioners met Monday with representatives from a coalition of statewide and national civil rights organizations. The commissioners say their mistakes caused several polling locations in Hinds County to run out of ballots. They admitted to sharing the wrong voter data with the company they contracted to print ballots, which directly led to ballot shortages. But the commissioners, who are all Democrats, also pointed to inadequate guidance from Secretary of State Michael Watson, a Republican.