Lafayette County Circuit Clerk Baretta Mosley has been appointed by Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann to be one of two representatives from Mississippi to serve on the U.S. Election Assistance Commission.

The commission is made up of two representatives from each of the 50 states and five U.S. territories.

This year the commission met in Carlsbad outside of San Diego, California on April 12-15.

The commission toured Pendleton Military Base and San Diego Elections and Registrar’s Office. The commission was created under the Help American Vote Act to test election technology and improve voting practices across the county.

This year’s meeting focused on UOCAVA Voters or Move Act (military and overseas citizens).

The commission looked for ways to make voting more accessible to our military and overseas citizens. Mississippi has already implemented the Move Act for our military and overseas citizens by allowing them to receive their ballots by email, fax, or mail on the first day to absentee vote by submitting a request that will allowing them vote in every election during that year. A new request must be submitted each year.

Mosley said she was very interested in the testing and certification of new election systems since our equipment is now 10 years old and will soon have to be replaced.

“This is my second year to serve on the commission and I look forward to next year’s meeting to see the results of some of the election systems we are looking at to replace what we are now using,” she said.