Mississippi

Early voting dies in MS Legislature. Concerns arose over new voting program, likely veto

Published

11 months ago

April 3, 2025

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Early voting dies in MS Legislature. Concerns arose over new voting program, likely veto

Parts of ‘excused’ voting program that pandered to national GOP position on mail-in absentee voting dies with new voting program

The Mississippi Legislature adjourned without passing a bill that would have created a 22-day excused early voting program.
Senate Elections Chairman Jeremy England plans to continue working on the legislation.
Gov. Tate Reeves expressed opposition to the bill, stating his support for same-day voting.
Mississippi remains one of few states without an early voting program.

The Legislature had passed a measure on Tuesday to allow folks to more easily vote prior to an election day, but lawmakers held the motion back on a parliamentary motion to reconsider and then failed to vote on that motion before ending the 2025 Legislative Session on Thursday.

On Tuesday, both the House and Senate passed a bill that created a 22-day excused early voting program, which allowed folks to go to their circuit clerk’s office and vote and have the ballot counted into a voting machine if they had one of several excused reasons for not voting on election day.

However, both chambers held the bill’s passage back, and while the House on Wednesday before gaveling out the session had tabled that motion, the Senate did not, leaving the bill on the cutting-room floor.

Senate Elections Chairman Jeremy England, R-Vancleave, told reporters after the Senate adjourned for the year on Thursday that he wants to continue working on the legislation. Specifically, he wants to make sure the program replaces the state’s current in-person absentee voting program and not simply add a new option of voting in addition to that.

“It was really just some cleanup language that we were going to have to do when we came back anyways,” England said. “And, look, that’s certainly a product of the House going home last weekend and us having about five hours together, as opposed to a weekend together to work on getting a well put together conference report.”

The House last weekend skipped what is commonly known as conference weekend, when lawmakers typically has out final budget proposals before hurriedly passing them through the chamber the following Monday. It also serves as extra time for other pieces of legislation to continue being negotiated.

England also said he had received word that Republican Gov. Tate Reeves would veto the bill. Reeves social media page had several times called out England for his early voting bill, characterizing the effort as a “Democratic priority.”

Several members of the Senate became upset with the back-and-forths between Reeves and England, calling on the governor to act with more civility and respect toward the Senate.

“Instead of having to read a veto message, I would rather just put something together that I know would have a better chance of becoming law (next year),” England said.

Reeves later told the Clarion Ledger his opposition came from his own views on early voting and national GOP positions on the topic.

“I believe in voting on Election Day,” Reeves said. “… I was in the White House just two weeks ago when President Trump endorsed ‘same-day voting’ and ‘one-day voting’ and encouraged governors to pass laws to stop the ridiculous practice of allowing voting for weeks and weeks that leads to outcomes being delayed for weeks after Election Day. Legislators should be focused on conservative priorities — like eliminating our income tax — not trying to tackle items on the Mississippi Democratic Party’s wish list. I’ll keep pushing back on dumb ideas and look forward to working with legislators on the issues conservative voters that elected us actually care about.”

One of the provisions of the bill, a section that would prohibit the counting of mail-in absentee ballots received after election day for state and local elections, also died with the bill. The state recently lost an appeal in a lawsuit filed by the GOP that successfully challenged the state’s law on counting mail-in absentee ballots received after election day for five days. It is unclear if the case will be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The law pertaining to state and local elections will now remain in place for at least another year, as will the state’s 45-day in person “excused” absentee voting program.

The bill’s death also leaves Mississippi as one of only a few states without a true early voting program. During the summer of 2024, the Senate Elections Committee heard testimony from experts saying that early voting was utilized by both Republicans and Democrats in droves, but rural populations would be able to take advantage more so than others.

Grant McLaughlin covers the Legislature and state government for the Clarion Ledger. He can be reached at gmclaughlin@gannett.com or 972-571-2335.

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Mississippi

Former federal attorney faces arson charge after two fires in Fondren

Published

8 hours ago

February 27, 2026

Press Room

Former federal attorney faces arson charge after two fires in Fondren

A former federal attorney was arrested and charged with arson for two fires in Jackson, Mississippi.
The fires damaged a building and a dumpster at the Yana Club of Mississippi, a recovery community nonprofit.
The suspect, George McDowell Yoder III, has a history of previous arrests and was suspended from practicing law in 2022.

A former federal attorney was arrested and charged with arson after a building and dumpster were set on fire Friday, Feb. 27, in the Fondren area of Jackson, authorities said.

Jackson Fire Department Chief of Investigations Charles Felton said firefighters responded around 12 a.m. Friday in reference to a reported building fire and dumpster fire at Yana Club of Mississippi located at 555 Hartsfield Street.

Felton said fire crews arrived and found two separate fires in the Fondren neighborhood that caused damage to the Yana Club and the dumpster.

No injuries were reported.

After the fires were extinguished, a fire investigator was called to the scene. Investigators spoke with Capitol Police, who had a suspect detained.

Felton said the Jackson Fire Department Arson Division arrested George McDowell Yoder III, a former federal attorney, and charged him with first-degree arson of Yana Club and third-degree arson of the dumpster.

In 2021, WDAM TV reported Yoder had been a special assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Mississippi from 2009 to 2011. Yoder also ran unsuccessfully as a candidate for the Mississippi Court of Appeals in 2016.

According to a 2023 article by the Laurel Leader Call, Yoder was arrested in 2021 for residential burglary and faced multiple charges from 2021 to 2023. Yoder was also arrested in 2023 for arson charges, the outlet reported.

Documents from the Supreme Court of Mississippi also indicate that Yoder was admitted to the practice of law in the state in 1999 but later suspended in 2022 from practicing law for three years.

Court records show Yoder was found to be accepting fees from clients, abandoning them and then failing to deposit their retainers into a trust account. Yoder “commingled” his personal money with those of his clients and performed little to no work on a Madison County criminal case he was hired to resolve.

Jackson fire officials also said that a fire did not occur Friday morning at The Pig & Pint, a barbecue business located next to Yana Club.

Yana Club of Mississippi, a nonprofit organization, is described via their Facebook page as a “recovery community” that serves individuals seeking help with addictions.

The organization confirmed at 10:23 a.m. Friday via a social media post that the Yana Club building will be closed due to damages sustained from the fire.

“Due to the safety of our members, we will be closed through the weekend,” the organization stated. “We are working with [the] fire department and insurance to determine the best course of action. The building is currently deemed unsafe for meetings to be held. We will be in touch with updates when we have them.”

Pam Dankins is the breaking news reporter for the Clarion Ledger. Have a tip? Email her at pdankins@gannett.com.

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Mississippi

Renowned New York dance instructor visits Mississippi to recruit for summer program

Published

21 hours ago

February 27, 2026

Press Room

Renowned New York dance instructor visits Mississippi to recruit for summer program

LAUREL, Miss. (WDAM) – A world-renowned dance instructor from New York visited Laurel Thursday to conduct a special class and do some recruiting for a prestigious summer dance program in the Big Apple.

Melanie Person, who is co-director of the Ailey School in New York, taught a master ballet class Thursday morning at Laurel Middle School.

It’s part of a three-day residency in the Magnolia State, organized by the Mississippi Arts + Entertainment Experience in Meridian.

She’ll teach two other classes Friday in Meridian before hosting an audition Saturday for a prestigious summer dance program at the Ailey School.

“I typically tour in about six to eight cities in the U.S., and I recruit dancers to come to our summer intensive, so part of this weekend, in one of the classes, I will be accepting students to come to New York for our five-week summer intensive,” Person said.

“We accept the dancers we like, and we see if they are able to come. The decision to come to New York for the summer is a big undertaking for families, so we just hope that they can do it.”

Registration is required for that audition, which will be held at the Mississippi Arts + Entertainment Experience.

To do that, click HERE.

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Mississippi

No. 12 Mississippi State’s Balance Shows Again in Road Win at Georgia Tech

Published

1 day ago

February 26, 2026

Press Room

No. 12 Mississippi State’s Balance Shows Again in Road Win at Georgia Tech

Mississippi State has won plenty of different ways during this 15-1 start, but Wednesday night in Atlanta felt like one of those games where the Bulldogs reminded everyone why they’ve looked so steady all month.

It wasn’t perfect, and it wasn’t stress‑free, but the 8-3 win over Georgia Tech was the kind of road win that shows a team knows exactly who it is and what buttons to push when things get a little weird.

Alyssa Faircloth set the tone again, even on a night when she didn’t have her cleanest beginning. She gave up a game‑tying homer in the second, shrugged, and then basically disappeared Georgia Tech’s lineup for the next three innings.

Eight strikeouts in nine batters the second time through the order, back‑to‑back innings striking out the side. The only real hiccup came on another leadoff homer in the sixth, and by then she’d already done the heavy lifting.

And while Faircloth was settling in, the lineup did what it’s been doing all year: spreading the damage around.

Des Rivera wasted no time, jumping on the first pitch of the second inning and sending it out. When Georgia Tech tied it, Nadia Barbary answered immediately with a solo shot of her own. It wasn’t loud or flashy, but it was the kind of response good teams make without thinking.

The middle innings were more about pressure than power. Barbary worked a walk, Kiarra Sells split the gap for an RBI double, and Anna Carder did her job with a sac fly. Suddenly it was 4-1, and Mississippi State had the game exactly where it wanted it with Faircloth cruising, the lineup stacking quality at‑bats, and the defense staying clean.

The seventh inning, though, is where the Bulldogs turned a solid win into a comfortable one. Sells homered again, and then Rivera and Tatum Silva kept the inning alive long enough for Morgan Bernardini to drop the hammer. Her three‑run shot to center didn’t just put the game away; it capped off the kind of night she’s been stringing together for a week now. She’s 7‑for‑11 during her four‑game hitting streak and looks like a hitter who’s seeing everything in slow motion.

Peja Goold handled the final outs, picking up her second save and slamming the door on a Georgia Tech team that kept trying to make things interesting late.

What stands out most about this win isn’t the four homers or the 11 strikeouts or even the 15-1 record. It’s how routine it all felt.

Mississippi State went on the road, took a couple of punches, and never looked rattled. Rivera homered. Barbary homered. Sells homered. Bernardini homered. Faircloth dominated. Goold closed. It was the same formula, just in a different ballpark.

Now the Bulldogs head to Clemson for a weekend that should tell us even more about who they are. But if Wednesday night is any indication, they’re traveling with a lineup that can hurt you anywhere and a pitching staff that doesn’t mind carrying the load when needed.