Jackson Free Press

In recent years, the role of the secretary of state was handled in a fair-handed and relatively apolitical way by Eric Clark, a conservative Democrat who seemed to focus on good governance and efficiency when it came to handling elections. While secretary of state is an elected position, it's also a enormous civic responsibility in the sense that the secretary of state is the person responsible for making sure elections are something every reasonable citizen can agree are handled fairly.

Unfortunately, current Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann, a Republican, went a little "political" here in his first test, showing himself to be less than fully independent from Haley Barbour's RNC-style scheming in the election for Trent Lott's open Senate seat. While Barbour is clearly on the "let's discourage voting if it helps our team" bandwagon, we would hope that Hosemann could be a more impartial referee.

Partisan tinkering with ballots just isn't the right way to run an election. To say that Mississippi has a history of voter intimidation is, of course, a drastic understatement. Any deviation from the norm in ballot design, vote counting or casting, or voter registration makes us look bad on the national stage. Hosemann may think he wants to tie his political future to Barbour's coat tails, but he ought to think about the integrity of that office of secretary of state while he's on that trip.

One immediate issue facing his office is the need to allow certain ex-felons—those who have paid their debt to society—to register to vote in certain national elections. The law is quite clear; Mississippi can keep people with a felony conviction from voting in certain statewide contests, but certain ex-felons must be allowed to vote for president and vice-president. If Hosemann decides to ignore that statutory requirement, he is once again choosing vote-blocking over integrity.

This country faces challenges abroad and one of the most critical financial crises at home to happen in the modern era. At a time when more people then ever are engaged in the political process in this country, it's important for politicians like Hosemann to put country over party and fulfill his civic role in our great experiment.

Mr. Hosemann, we call on you to do everything in your power not to block legitimate votes, but to ensure a smooth, accurate, efficient vote in Mississippi come Nov. 4.

Remember, there's still time this week to register to vote. Visit http://www.sos.state.ms.us or the Obama campaign's Vote for Change site at http://www.voteforchange.com or http://voteforyourlife.net for details.