Dear Friend,

As your Secretary of State, I’m honored to lead an office that has continued to find ways to trim our budget, return voter confidence in our elections system and cut the regulatory burden faced by our small businesses and entrepreneurs around the state.

As we reach the end of another unpredictable year, all of us have much for which to be thankful. Through the hard work of an incredible staff at the Secretary of State’s office, I want to give you a brief report on what’s been accomplished in 2021 as well as a preview of what we’re focusing on for the coming year. 

With so much focus on election integrity, our office is working hard to make certain the vote you cast is the vote that’s counted—and that every other legal vote is properly counted. Here’s what we’ve done—and plans for the coming year—to protect election integrity:

• This year, we had municipal and special elections in Mississippi. To help assist local officials and ensure all elections were held with the highest integrity, approximately 20 staffers from our office went to about 60 cities and hundreds of precincts to provide assistance and participate in the process. Not only do we talk about election integrity, we are actively engaged in the process to maintain voter confidence.
• You may have recently heard the Governor discussing the importance of clean voter rolls. I’m pleased he’s decided to join us in the fight for election integrity and look forward to having his support this session. We aggressively and successfully began working to make sure our voter rolls are accurate last year. To explain how it works, we sent postcards to the address of every registered voter. If they were returned to the Circuit Clerks office, the Election Commissioners then sent a confirmation card to confirm the individual still lived at that address, was a legal voter, and desired to remain as an active voter on the registered voter rolls. Once the card was sent, the voter was moved to “inactive” status, which means they would be required to cast an affidavit ballot if they went to vote. If the voter does not vote or update their address in a period containing two federal general elections, the voter would be moved to purged status. Our efforts last year were a big step in keeping accurate voter rolls, and I need your help to make sure we stay vigilant for accuracy, accountability and election integrity.
• This coming legislative session, we’ll be introducing our new election integrity package dealing with voter roll maintenance, post-election audits and a more secure way for the current mail-in absentee voting option. And most importantly, we’ll continue focusing on making sure only U.S. citizens vote in our elections.
  

Cutting the regulatory burden has been another of our primary efforts. As you know, starting a business in Mississippi is a quick and easy process. However, many businesses are held back by unnecessary, burdensome government regulations. It’s hard to believe but our regulatory code contains more than 118,000 restrictions—making our state one of the most regulated states in the Southeast.

As Secretary of State and a small business owner, I understand firsthand the impact burdensome regulations have on our state’s economy. Cutting red tape impacts all of us. Whether you’re launching the business of your dreams, or paying less at the grocery store, fewer and smarter regulations make a big difference on your pocketbooks. That’s why I launched the Tackle the Tape initiative—and here’s how it works:

• Tackle the Tape focuses on cutting regulations which are anti-competitive and do not substantially further the safety of our citizens. This July marked one year since its inception, and I’m pleased to report we have had more progress and support than I could have imagined. From bringing a corporate headquarters to Tupelo, to helping a number of small business owners open their doors, it’s been a smashing success.
• Tackle the Tape continues to put Mississippi on the forefront of regulation reform nationally. In fact, in 2020 I was honored to be approached by President Trump’s administration to explain how we were having success with regulatory reform here.
• Since then, I’ve continued to work with state leaders across the country seeking to enact regulatory reform in their states—using Mississippi’s success as a model!
  

Also, in November, we launched Mississippi’s largest effort to bring together the best and brightest minds in the world of conservation to help craft a statewide plan for Mississippi. In my role as State Land Commissioner, I plan to do as much as possible to be a good steward of this beautiful land and wonderful resources with which the Lord has blessed us. Conservation is not a left vs. right issue. Reasonable and rational conservation efforts are the best way to be good stewards of our natural resources.  As a hunter and outdoorsman, I know that we can enjoy—and preserve—our land and resources today, and in the future. Stay tuned for some great work in such an important area!

As many of you are already aware, there’s a new reality on the political landscape in our country right now. In the past, very little outside attention was put on the office of Secretary of State. Today, leftwing outside groups are targeting conservative Secretaries of State and will be spending millions to defeat people like me in our state and others. That’s why I’m asking for your support today to make sure our campaign is ready and prepared in the future.

I would be honored to have your continued support—and any donation you can make today will make sure we are prepared for the coming year and beyond. Thank you, and may God continue to bless our state and our country.

Sincerely,

Michael Watson