Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson was in Tallahatchie County early Tuesday afternoon (Oct. 4) as part of a tour that eventually will take him to meet with election officials in all 82 counties.
During an informal gathering in the courtroom of the Charleston courthouse, Watson and his entourage of two greeted the local circuit clerk and the county’s five election commissioners before joining them for a bite or two of pizza.
Watson’s “82-county tour” kicked off in 2020 but was interrupted by COVID-19. The tour resumed this year.
Tallahatchie was the 70th county stop for Watson. On Tuesday, there were others in Tunica and Quitman counties before, and in Holmes County afterward.
Watson said the gatherings are all about relationship-building and sharing.
“As secretary of state, obviously, overseeing elections in Mississippi is one of our duties,” said Watson. “But the real work happens at the local level with our circuit clerks and commissioners.
“So when we launched the 82-county tour, really, the whole purpose of it was to build relationships and learn from our clerks and commissioners how we could better serve at the secretary of state’s office,” he added.
Watson said the tour has been beneficial.
"The relationships that we have formed, the things that we've learned, really have helped us do our job better, in my opinion, at the secretary of state's office," he noted.
Watson cited one example of how input from local officials has played a beneficial role in the elections process.
“When we had COVID and were trying to figure out the plans of how to make sure people felt safe coming to vote, there were a couple of issues that I thought, ‘Maybe this is a good idea,’” he said. “And we had some clerks come visit with us because we had built these relationships and they said, ‘This may not be the best idea.’ And so it was great having those relationships, because I don’t know everything. But I know folks that do.”
The secretary said local elections officials are the ones who have the pulse of their communities about the process.
"Obviously, the clerks and commissioners know what we do in the secretary of state's office, but for me, it's really good to learn from the experts. Our clerks and commissioners are the ones that run elections on a day-to-day basis. So when I have questions, it's great to have these relationships where I can call and say, 'Hey, I'm seeing something here. Can you help me walk through this on the local level, what it actually looks like on the ground?' So having those relationships that you can ask the hard questions, that you can dig into information, is really helpful to doing my job."
