JACKSON, Miss. (WJTV) — Two of the Secretary of State’s Office websites have earned recognition for its web content.

Y’all Vote and Charities Online are Silver W³ Award winners.

The W³ Awards honor creative excellence on the web and recognize the people behind award-winning sites, marketing programs, social content, mobile site/apps, and online video.

“Our team is laser-focused on organizing data and information in a way which is intuitive to Mississippians,” Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann said.  “This has helped us fulfill our core mission: operating the agency from the citizen up.”

Y’all Vote aggregates all election information on one easy-to-use website.  The site also allows citizens to check their registration status and allows registered to voters to change their address online if they have moved to ensure their ballot counts.  Since the site’s launch in September 2016, it has received more than 44,000 hits, 5,300 Mississippians have checked their voter registration status, and 1,396 Mississippians have changed their voter registration address online.

The Charities Division completed its process to move all registration forms online in April 2017.  Charities and other entities required to register in the State can also verify and approve their information online before submitting it.  Currently, more than 3,700 charities are registered in Mississippi, and more than 4,200 charities have filed exemption paperwork.

The W³ Awards are sponsored and judged by the Academy of Interactive and Visual Arts (AIVA), top-tier media, interactive, advertising, and marketing professionals.  For more information about the awards or AIVA, visit www.w3award.com or www.aiva.org.

Additionally, McAfee recognized Russell Walker , the Agency’s Chief Technology Officer, for his attention and dedication to cybersecurity in its annual Digital Government Cybersecurity Leadership & Innovation Awards.  Walker has worked for the Secretary of State’s Office for six years facilitating the virtualization of the Agency’s infrastructure, modernizing outdated policies, and enhanced the overall security of the network.

“Network security initiatives start from the top down,” Walker said. “I’m grateful to work for an organization which has invested in necessary training and equipment, and prioritized keeping our networks secure.”

Walker was honored at McAfee’s MPOWER Cybersecurity Summit in October 2017.

Source: WJTV

Ian’s giggle radiates through the Capitol. His mom, Jessica McLaurin, gives him a soft “shh” and he responds with a bear hug.

Ian is on the autism spectrum and the therapy he’s received in last three years has improved his communication skills dramatically.

But insurance companies in Mississippi are only required by a state law passed in 2015 to insure for autism services up to age 8, requiring parents to jump through more hoops to prove medical necessity after that.

Ian will turn 8 in July.

On Tuesday, state officials announced they had come to an agreement with three large insurers, BlueCross BlueShield, Magnolia Health and UnitedHealthcare, to remove that age cap.

“That means that when he becomes an adolescent or even 10, we won’t have to scramble to find private services,” McLaurin said.

McLaurin found a private therapist that would see her son for $300 an hour without insurance. “I want him to have the services, but that’s just not feasible,” she said.

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Removing the age cap is one step toward improving access to applied behavior analysis, the leading treatment for folks with autism or developmental disabilities. The service helps folks like Ian learn how to interact in different social settings, the classroom versus the grocery store, for example.

It also provides training for parents. McLaurin has had success with a technique for telling Ian "no" without actually using the word "no."

"'No' kind of does something to him. Instead we say, 'You know what, we're going to do that next time.'" McLaurin said.

At one point, Medicaid was reimbursing Ian's services, but when coverage dropped, McLaurin had to pay out of pocket. Instead of three days a week, she had to cut his therapy back to two.

Now, McLaurin doesn't have to worry about losing coverage through her current insurer, BlueCross BlueSheild, after Ian's birthday.

Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann, whose agencies oversees the Mississippi Autism Board established by the 2015 law, and Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney worked together on the deal. The three large insurers cover roughly 90 percent of Mississippi children with autism and the other smaller insurers have no age cap.

Chaney said Hosemann helped him with one insurer who was hesitant to agree to the deal.

"He said, 'Let me see what I can do.' He went out there on his own nickle ... and visited with the CEO and moved the ball forward. That's the type of guy you have, people who make a difference. And when you work together in government you can move mountains and help your constituents."

The Insurance Department has also made available new online resources for parents, including an insurance reimbursement guide, a link to a list of applied behavioral analysis providers and providers in-network, a link to the autism spectrum disorder screening tool, an FAQ and insurance term glossary and other guides. These are available at mid.ms.gov/autism.

Navigating insurance isn't easy. Though the law guaranteeing coverage for children with autism passed in 2015, McLaurin spent all of 2016 working through the process, finally getting coverage in 2017.

"In my work, I visit with parents and children trying to navigate the complicated insurance system every day," Mississippi Autism Board Chairman Dr. Jim Moore said in a release. "We are grateful for Commissioner Chaney's leadership in aggregating resources to make finding critical information easier for those who need it."

Lori Unumb, a representative from Autism Speaks, a national organization that advocates for folks with autism, called the announcement unprecedented. She said she had just visited Idaho, one of only four states yet to address insurance coverage for autism services.

When telling Idaho representatives their state is behind, one asked, "Wait a minute, has Mississippi done this?" Unumb said.

"Now, I had to say to this person, 'In fact, Mississippi has not only passed this legislation, you cannot believe everything they're doing for their children with autism.'"

Source: The Clarion-Ledger

Judging is underway for our K-12 grade Promote the Vote program (an art and essay contest). This year we designed a publication focusing on A Bicentennial History of Mississippi for the program. We will be honoring the winners at the State Capitol on February 8. I have enjoyed visiting schools while traveling throughout the State.

Our office surveyed almost 100,000 Mississippi businesses to determine their needs, employee qualifications, barriers, and what was most important to their operations.

We received more than 1,800 responses. An educated workforce to improve our economy is of vast importance to Mississippi’s businesses. Significant results from businesses included:

• About to 75% of businesses find it moderately to significantly difficult to find an educated workforce.
• About 45% would expand in Mississippi if they had an educated workforce.
• More than 40% said having an educated workforce is most important to their business; more than 20% said community support was most important.

To view the survey results, click here: Y’all Business Survey Results

A potential race for governor between Republican Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves and Democrat Attorney General Jim Hood has no clear winner and nearly 20 percent of voters are undecided, according to a new poll from Millsaps College.

Millsaps College partnered with Chism Strategies for its second annual state of the state survey, which was released on the day Gov. Phil Bryant will give the State of the State address to the Legislature. Chism Strategies is a Democratic polling firm that also works with non-partisan groups and businesses.

The poll also shows voters’ views on the direction of the state falls along partisan lines, while only half of independents believe Mississippi is on the right track. In fact, about the only thing a large majority of Mississippians seem to agree on is a shared lack of support for lawmakers.

In the hypothetical governor’s race, Reeves is leading with 44.7 percent compared to Hood with 37.5 percent. The poll shows 17.8 percent are undecided.

While the race is nearly two years out, Reeves’ lead is much narrower than would be expected for the presumptive GOP frontrunner against a possible Democratic opponent. The reason is as much reflective of Hood’s political strength — rare for a Democrat in Mississippi — as it is of any dissatisfaction with Reeves.

That said, Reeves’ support among Republicans (77 percent) is not a strong as Hood’s is among Democrats (84.5 percent), nor does Reeves enjoy the same amount of crossover. Hood enjoys support from 10.5 percent of Republicans surveyed, compared to only 5.5 percent of Democrats who support Reeves. Too, 12.5 percent of Republicans say they are unsure, compared to just 7.4 percent of Democrats.

State of the state

Overall, 41.7 percent of respondents said the state was headed in the right direction, compared to 36.3 percent who said it was headed in the wrong direction. The other 22 percent said they were unsure in which direction Mississippi was headed.

The ideological split over the direction of the state was pretty stark. Republicans largely see Mississippi headed in the right direction, 64-16 percent. In almost a mirror image, Democrats view the state as headed in the wrong direction, 63-14 percent.

Independents, however, are split, with 50 percent having a positive outlook and 25 percent seeing it heading in the wrong direction. Another 25 percent were unsure.

The Legislature seems to be the biggest loser in the poll, with only a 26.3 percent approval rating and 38.2 percent disapproving. Another 35.5 percent of those polled were unsure what to think of the Legislature. Republicans had only a slightly higher opinion of lawmakers than did Democrats. Of GOP respondents, 33.2 percent approved of the Legislature’s job performance, 27.6 percent disapproved and 39.2 percent were unsure. For Democrats, only 15.7 percent approved while 49.2 percent disapproved and 35.1 percent were unsure.

Fixing roads and bridges (23.4 percent) was the top priority out of a list of eight possible responses. Making health care more affordable (20.8) and more funding for public schools (19.3) were a close second and third.

Other issues polled showed:

• State lottery: 68.8 percent support, 22.8 percent oppose, 8.4 percent unsure. Asked how they would prioritize using funds generated from a state lottery, 50.6 percent said public education would be the top choice. Fixing roads and bridges was second at 28.6 percent. Nothing else polled in double digits.
• Raising gasoline tax to pay for infrastructure repairs: 38 percent support, 50 percent oppose, 12 percent unsure.
• How to choose school boards: 68.5 percent elected, 10.4 percent appointed, 13.5 percent would let it vary district to district, 7.6 percent unsure

Approval ratings

The poll did not seek approval ratings for Bryant, Reeves or Hood. Nathan Schrader, director of communications for Millsaps, said they chose not to include these three because their approval ratings were polled in September.

Here’s a quick rundown of the approval ratings of those the poll did test:

• Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann: 53.4 percent approve, 18.7 percent disapprove, 27.9 percent unsure. Hosemann is expected to run for lieutenant governor, with his name also being mentioned for a possible gubernatorial run.
• Treasurer Lynn Fitch: 42.4 percent approve, 23.1 percent disapprove, 34.5 percent unsure. Fitch’s name has been mentioned as a possible candidate for the third congressional district seat being vacated by U.S. Rep. Gregg Harper. She’s also been mentioned as a possible candidate for attorney general in 2019.
• Public Service Commissioner Brandon Presley: 31.2 percent approve, 21.3 percent disapprove, 47.5 percent unsure. Presley is the only Democrat polled. He represents only the northern third of the state. Some have mentioned him as a possible candidate for governor or lieutenant governor in 2019, though it’s hard to see him run against Hood in a gubernatorial primary.

The poll was conducted Dec. 15-19, surveyed 578 voters and has a margin of error of 4.08 percent. It was weighted to reflect 2015 general election turnout for age, race, gender and party affiliation.

Source: Clarion Ledger

JACKSON, Miss. (WTVA) – A recent survey by the Mississippi Secretary of State’s Office reveals a big issue for business owners in Mississippi.

The survey of thousands of business owners revealed common hurdles to starting a business, investigating and expanding operations in the Magnolia State.

The biggest issue is the lack of an educated workforce.

“We need more jobs, higher wages and greater opportunities for all Mississippians, but the message businesses are sending us is clear,” said Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann. “We will fail to accomplish these goals if we do not have an educated workforce.”

Among other responses, the survey shows:

• About 75 percent of Mississippi businesses find it moderately to significantly difficult to find an educated workforce;
• It takes more than 47 percent of businesses three months to a year (or more) to find a qualified employee for an open position;
• About 45 percent of current businesses said they would expand in Mississippi if they had an educated workforce;
• More than 45 percent of businesses require employees to hold a two-year degree or higher; and
• More than 30 percent of businesses said an educated workforce is most important to their business, and 20 percent said community support was most important.

Source: WTVA