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[Music and Intro]

(Drew Hall) MDOT presents The Extra Mile Podcast

(Paul Katool) Welcome in to another edition of The Extra Mile Podcast presented by the Mississippi Department of Transportation. I'm Paul Katool, and as always, I'm joined by my co-host Will Craft. And today, we’ve got a special treat for you today. About a month out, by the time this episode goes out, from the election. So, with that in mind, we have Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson in the house to speak with us. Secretary Watson, thank you so much for coming and being a repeat guest on The Extra Mile.

(Michael Watson) Yeah, great to be back again with you guys.

(Will Craft) Appreciate it. Welcome back to the show. As Paul mentioned, it’s been a little while. Um, it’s been quite some time. I, sure, you know, this time of year, as he just mentioned, I’m sure you just have all the free time in the world. What all’s going on with the office?

(Michael) There is nothing happening over there right now. Uh, you know, we, we just really got into, uh, I guess the swing of things with elections. Uh, we, we, it's, I think that people need to understand about elections is the hard work really happens long before you ever walk into that ballot box. Uh, so Mississippi is a bottom-up state. Our circuit clerks and elections commissioners do the really hard work. And so, building relationships with them has been something that's been really important to us.

Um, I can't remember if we talked about last summer or not, but we did an 82-county tour. Wrapped that up, and really getting to sit down with all the elections commissioners all the circuit clerks building that relationship as, y'all know, we're not always going to agree on everything. But when you have a relationship to start from it's a lot easier to have those hard conversations.

(Will) Sure.

(Michael) And so I really appreciate that, but we're having our weekly calls with them now or meeting with the different various vendors; we’re talking to the feds about security issues, cyber security, you name it. Uh, really excited about this year. This fall will be the first time in a long time that our entire state is voting on paper ballots.

(Will) OK.

(Michael) So, it's a verifiable trail. You will then enter your ballot into the opti-scanner, and it'll count it that way, but if anybody has a question whatsoever, we can go back to that paper ballot. I think that's a really important piece. So excited about that. Uh, a lot of other things that are going on, but again, it's all about teamwork and, uh, just because we're in election season doesn't mean that business services stops, nor public land stops. So, we've got everything going, uh, full bore, and it's just, it's great to have such a good team.

(Will) Yeah, absolutely. I say the same thing very often about the folks here in Public Affairs. Shout out to, uh, Drew Hall over here making everything look pretty.

(Michael) Drew Hall.

(Will) That's right. Mr. Courtney Ann Hall, as we've just been, we've just been informed.

(Paul) Shout out to her.

(Will) That's right. Yeah, there you go. Uh, we're talking a little bit about that, about the elections coming up. I've seen sample ballots are out, right?

(Michael) They are, they are.

(Will) You can go take a look at that, get familiar with what you're going to see when you get to the box. No surprises. Um, yeah, I think the people are surprised once they figure out, ‘why is the order what it is?’ and you know, it's, it's an alphabetical thing.

(Michael) It is, it's by statute, and we had a lot of questions about that this year, um, interestingly enough. Uh, so basically every party that has a primary, uh, so if you've got the, the Green Party or if you've got whomever, uh, Republican, Democrat, you name it, if you have a primary, then your, your box are basically your group of candidates is listed first alphabetically. If you do not have a primary, you come after that. So, people say, ‘Well, this thing's not even alphabetical order.’ Well, yes, it is. It's your, again, your, your parties with primaries are first, and then all the independent candidates are alphabetically listed after. So that's, that's what you're going to see on your ballot. Uh, you can go to yallvote.ms, get all the information you need on elections.

Absentee voting started on the 23rd of September, so that's live. I encourage people to, if you're going to be tied up on election day for some reason, and you meet one of the requirements, I encourage you to make the plan now to go vote absentee. It's going to get busy the closer we get to the cutoff, so make sure that you're making that plan. And then we have a new tool, uh, this year, it actually came out last year, but since we've talked. Uh, it's, it's a bit of a new tool. It's called My Election Day. And so, for folks that do have to vote absentee, if, if you've got to vote affidavit for some reason on election day, you can track your ballots now through the My Election Day tool.

You can see where you're supposed to go vote. You can see who all your locally elected officials are. And I encourage folks again, to understand who your elections officials are, your circuit clerks and your commissioners. They're the ones that are really important to know if there's an issue that comes up with elections. Those are the people that you can hold accountable at the local level. So, I encourage everyone to understand who those folks are.

And then secondly, really important to understand this year, trusted information. You're going to see all kinds of stuff on, you know, TikTok, um, whatever that is.

(Will) And that's the one

(Michael) Twitter, X, you name it, Facebook. You're going to see all kinds of stuff out there from foreign, uh, folks who are trying to interfere with our elections process and from other people who just don't have the facts, that just spit stuff out on Facebook or whatever and don't care if it's true or not. So, make sure if you see something that's questionable Reach out to us reach out to your circuit clerk your elections commissioners to understand that you're getting trusted information really important this year, especially with AI, and you know how big that's becoming now great things with it, but there are also some bad sides to it So, just, I encourage folks to get trusted information.

(Will) Absolutely.

(Paul) Definitely. And kind of speaking of that, how much do you guys have to do with election security? What are you guys doing behind the scenes to ensure that everything is, goes smoothly?

(Michael) Yeah, that’s, that’s really important. Probably number one right now with everything that's going on around the world, having, having secure systems in the processes in the elections space here in Mississippi, and I will tell you both, I'm very confident in 2020. A lot of people still ask questions about that. I'm very confident in the process and how our system worked in 2020 just as if not more confident going into 2024. Great example. In 2022, we saw, um, some cyber issues here in Mississippi. We had a DDoS attack on Election Day, so our websites, public facing, were down intermittently throughout the day, but I say that to say we saw that problem, we were able to make it through the day, thank goodness without any real big issues. Because of that, it helps us to be prepared even more so for 2024. Well, okay, we saw that back in 2022. Let's put in some new tools. Uh, let's work with ITS, uh, let's talk to our federal partners, you name it, to make sure that we're ready to go in into 2024.

So, some of the experiences that we've had from 2020 have really helped to prepare us even more so for 2024. And you talk about the cyber piece again, a lot of that runs through ITS, so thankful for the friendships that we have over there. Uh, but also Daniel Jordan and our team at the office. Uh. Kyle Kirkpatrick on the election side, Daniel Jordan on the, uh, cyber side and ITS piece, um, just do a fantastic job of making sure that we're talking to our federal partners, understanding, ‘What are the threats that are out there?’ You know, we have a group called NASS, the National Association of Secretaries of State. We stay in touch nonstop. Um, by the way, I'll be the president next year. So, I'll get all the good intel now.

(Will) Congrats or condolences.

(Michael) Yeah, that's right. One of the two. Um, yeah. So, we can hear what's going on in other states, you know, what may be happening in, uh, Michigan or Alaska or wherever across the country. Well, you know, let's be prepared for that. We see that's happening there. Let's make sure that we're got our systems in place to make sure we got a great election coming in Mississippi. So, a lot of things going on in that space.

(Paul) Definitely. And there's a lot of responsibility there. It's kind of crazy.

(Michael) There is.

(Paul) Lots of stuff. So, make your pitch, you know, if someone's like maybe undecided about voting in general, like, you know, I know Y'all Vote is kind of some kind of initiative surrounds that. But like, make your pitch, go and vote no matter who you're voting for.

(Michael) Yeah, agreed. You know, we start, we do a lot of education at the office.
I think it's really important. Elections 101 is a new campaign Liz Johnson and our comms team put together about elections, and why is it important that I vote. And I think it's really important for people to understand the whole process from A to Z, from the time that I go register to the time that I cast my ballot to the time that it's counted, ‘Who's in charge?’ ‘How does this thing work?’ And once you understand how that works, it makes you a little more comfortable with it. Take that to the next level. How do we educate through our ‘Promote the Vote’ kids in school? Why is it important to go vote? Uh, going to colleges, our ambassadors program, and we'll talk about it a little bit later, where we've got, uh, high school seniors that do voter registration jobs in their schools around the state.

A lot of great things happening in that space, but at the end of the day, you know, this is a great example. I was in Starkville a few weeks ago talking to their Student Athletic Advisory Committee, and just out of the blue, it kind of hit me, you know what, we need to talk issue-based. You may not like either one of these candidates. You may can't stand them, you know, who knows what. But let's look at, let's say, NIL. You're, you're athletes now, you're being paid.

(Will) Sure.

(Michael) Which one of these candidates has a better position for you when it comes to NIL or to taxes or –

(Will) Yeah.

(Michael) This is real pocketbook stuff. So, you may not like the candidates, but how about you look at an issue that's going to impact you and vote based on that issue. So, even if, again, I'll say this to our listeners here, even if you don't like either one of the candidates. Take the time to educate yourself on those issues. ‘How is this going to impact me and my family?’ And let me make sure that I vote properly according to what I think, who I think has the best plans.

(Paul) There you go.

(Will) Love that. Yeah. I mean, I just would echo that. That's such a great way to put that. There's so much noise that goes on. I feel like that, you know, maybe there's plenty of things being talked about on the big scale that, that I just don't care, you know, or maybe that I just totally disagree with, but yeah –

(Michael) Right.

(Will) Find that issue that really is important to you. There is one, you know, there's at least one.

(Michael) No doubt.

(Will) Absolutely. Uh, one, just real quick, I know you've mentioned Y'all Vote a couple times now, but has the, has that feature always been on the site? You can go in, type in your address, and it basically just shows you who your, who your candidates are, or who your elected officials.

(Michael) Yeah, so that's My Election Day. That's the new tool I was telling you about.

(Will) Ah, OK.

(Michael) We've got that kind of zoned in now. So, you put in your address, it tells you where to go vote, uh, who are my local elected officials, who are the folks I need to be holding accountable. And again, to that point, consent of the governed is something that I've really been focused on of late. That's how this country was set up, how our government's supposed to work. That's why it's important to go vote. You know, I work for the people of Mississippi. If they don't like what I'm doing, then they shouldn't give me their consent to continue to govern.

(Will) Sure.

(Michael) That's the key here. And so, I hope folks understand this is your opportunity to either give your consent or not for the next President of the United States, the next United States Senator from Mississippi, the Congressman, uh, the Judicial Branches that are open up for, uh, you know, we've got Supreme Court, we've got Court of Appeals, uh, local elections. That's your job to grant your consent. And if folks aren't listening to you, then don't give them your consent. Send them back home. It's a really important piece.

(Will) Yeah, absolutely. Before we kind of move into the couple things we've already mentioned, the SOS Ambassadors, and just forgive my ignorance: Voter ID. Are we through the hurdles? It's here to stay. It's done.

(Michael) It is here to stay in Mississippi. And look, I really appreciate I was in the Senate back when that passed and we had the ‘implementating,’ or implementing piece of the legislation that came through. And then we had, at the time, Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann. And they did a really good job of implementing that, uh, it's so easy, you know, and a lot of people say, ‘Well, gosh, man, you're just disenfranchising or you're suppressing the vote.’ And that's what they would say. And to that, I would remind folks, not only did we give you free IDs, we would give you rides to the courthouse to go get your free ID. There was no excuse whatsoever. And it's still just as easy as can be to get your ID to go vote. And not only do that now, uh, does that serve as a, but then you also have a state issued ID that you can use and say, ‘Hey, this is who I am.’ So, uh, it's, it's here and it's not going anywhere.

(Will) I’m definitely in favor. I've always said, I got this baby face, but just trying to walk to the restaurants in the casino.

(Michael) Right.

(Will) I have to give my ID.

(Michael) Right.

(Will) I'm just going to eat right now.

(Michael) Right.

(Will) It feels like there should be a little difference in the level of security involved in those two things. I had to show my ID just to go eat.

(Michael) And look across the globe. How many countries have Voter ID for elections, and then we're going to argue that, that's not, it doesn't make sense to me.

(Paul) Absolutely. One more thing on the voting. Uh, so I know things are kind of set up now, but are there any things in the future we're looking at in the state of Mississippi? Any changes or?

(Michael) Yeah, really good question.

(Paul) Awesome.

(Michael) So last year we saw in the Legislature, there was a move, I think the legislation, actually passed the Senate, died in the House, for early voting. I think you're going to see that coming back this year. One of the issues we saw last year was, in my opinion, a lack of the details that are needed. When you put something like that in front of the Legislature, that's going to be impacting a lot of Mississippians. You better nail down those details. And that's one of the things that we in making our 82-county tour, talking to circuit clerks and commissioners. Um, we've gone back through now we've got 23 new clerks. So, I'm going back through those 2-3 counties.

(Will) Wow.

(Michael) Uh, and in those conversations, it's basically been, look, this is coming. We need to make sure that we understand the details. Uh, to, to put in the legislation to make sure this is going to work, because if we miss that and it's a cluster, you know, a lot of Mississippians are going to pay a dear price for that. So, let's make sure we understand what are the, you know, A through Z of early voting that we're gonna make sure that that is in the law in Mississippi. So we've got a lot of work to do still with that. But I do think that, uh, that conversation is coming again with the Legislature. I know the chairman of Senate elections and chairman of House elections both support it, and I know the lieutenant governor is a big supporter as well for the voting.

So, what we have said is look, I love election day. I'm a little bit old school in that in that sense. But if it's coming, I want to be involved with the discussion to make sure that we get the details right because, again, it takes a team in elections. I want to make sure the circuit clerks are heard. I want to make sure elections commissioners are heard. I want to make sure the Secretary of State's office is heard when we're doing something that big with elections. So, a lot more conversations to have on that one.

(Paul) That’s some good stuff.

(Will) Yeah, it's, I would even ask you, forgive me for following up on that.

(Michael) Not at all.

(Will) Is there is there an ironed out pro-con to that conversation?

(Michael) You know, there’s not. If you look at some of the things, and I'll tell you this from my position –

(Will) Sure.

(Michael) which, which makes me more comfortable if they're going to do it, then these are the things I would like to see if they're going to do it.

(Will) OK.

(Michael) For example, right now we have 45 days of absentee voting. One of the things I've told them is ‘Let's dial that back to 30. Let's take away 15 of those days.’ If you're going to do early voting, which again, no excuse, anybody can go in and decide for whatever reason they want to, to vote early. So, if you're going to do that, then let's dial that down. There's another piece in there currently with absentee voting. So, if you've got somebody that's temporarily disabled, under current law, if you're permanently disabled, you've got to show a doctor's excuse for that, to continue to be, uh, absentee voting.

Um, for permanent, or for temporary disability, you do not have to show anything. You just say, ‘Hey, uh, by the way, I'm, I'm temporarily disabled.’ Well, you know, what I've also told them is, OK, if you're going to do this, let's dial it down to 30. Let's take away this, this temporary disability piece and at least have some kind of doctor's excuse for you to use that to vote absentee. And I've also asked them, how do we perhaps dial back some of this mail-in voting?

(Paul) Yeah.

(Michael) You know, it's typically where you're going to see some fraud and people say all the time, you know, ‘Voter fraud. That's not real.’ Oh, yes, it is.

(Will) Very much so.

(Michael) We've, we've got, uh, the proof to show it. But that said, if we're going to go in this direction, let's dial back some of this other absentee voting by mail. Uh, the, the timeframe in which you can do it, uh, to, to really give some security features. Uh, if you're gonna go that direction, then here's the, the trade, for lack of a better term that, that I would like to see.

(Will) I mean, I can certainly understand the risk. It's, you know, you're just greatly expanding a very fine-tuned process there, so.

(Michael) Yeah, and I'll tell this to comfort people just a bit. I will say the second, the second safest vote is one that's in person in the clerk's office. So, I think that's a something we should all think through as well.

(Will) I do like that. That's good. Well, moving into a little bit less of a controversial topic here. The Ambassadors Program, SOS Ambassadors, you mentioned earlier. I don't think it was in existence or maybe had just gotten started last time you were on with us. What is that?

(Michael) Yeah, so I'll tell you a really quick explanation. You'll know the Boys State and Girls State programs?

(Will) OK.

(Michael) So, the Girls State leaders were in our office one year, and it was all eight of the elected officials there. And typically, what they do is they come spend a day with, say the secretary would go with the secretary, governor with the governor, et cetera. Well, for some reason this one day, I was the only statewide in office, uh, in town. So, they all came to my office.

(Paul) Nice.

(Michael) We had a great conversation. An hour and a half later, I knew everything. Um, but it was fun, and in the middle of that conversation, it kind of hit me, look, these are the future leaders of our state. How do we plug into them and make sure they understand the importance of voting? But once they do it, their peers listen to them.

(Will) Sure.

(Michael) So, how do we get them in their schools kind of helping to, uh, you know, make this popular or something, the cool –

(Will) Right, yeah.

(Michael) So, we get them to do voter registration drives in their high schools. And through that process, Liz and Wade, some of the folks in our office said, look, I think we can grow this, make it bigger. And so that's where ambassadors, uh, came in, the SOS Ambassadors Program. So, we take, uh, applications from high school seniors, uh, high school juniors going into their senior year.

(Will) OK.

(Michael) And we choose, I think we're up to 67, 70, somewhere in that range this year. I started at 57, went to like 66, 67, and this year I think it's right at 70. And we teach them three things. Number one, how do elections work in our state? And then all of them go do a voter registration drive in their school. Number two, how does government even work? You know, if there's something I'm interested in, how do I advocate for that issue? How does this space work? And number three, I think is the most important piece, is really a mentorship. How do I teach these students, you don't have to leave our state? There are great opportunities here, and oh, by the way, I want to help you find them. You know, let's, let's build a relationship. Uh, and I tell them all the time, when you go to school, college, uh, if you leave the state, that's fine. Uh, I'd prefer you stay –

(Will) Sure.

(Michael) but if you leave, my one request is that you call me when you graduate, and you say, you know, Michael, I, I want to do this, and it just doesn't seem to exist in Mississippi. There are too many times that I've seen, we have no idea, and so at least give me the opportunity to go find whether or not it's there. And if it is, then I can bring you back home, and we can keep our best and brightest. So, it's been fantastic.

(Will) It's awesome.

(Michael) Uh, yeah, those relationships that we've been able to build through, uh, just, we have in-person summits here in Jackson. Two, and then we have now an in-person summit in North Mississippi and South Mississippi. Uh, this year, North Mississippi was in Starkville. Uh, so Mississippi State rolled out the maroon carpet, as I say, uh, did a fantastic job. Uh, and this fall we'll be down at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College. Uh, last year we were at Ole Miss and Southern Miss in the south. And so, it's fun for me to get them to, you know, see the different pieces of the state, see these different schools that I can go to and that I can be a part of. And then lastly, we have a monthly, uh, Zoom meeting that we do, and I bring in folks from around the state who are successful.

How, how can you teach these young high school students how you can be successful in Mississippi, too? Uh, and these are like superstars, you know, like, um, Keith Carter, the A.D. at Ole Miss. Uh, we had Coach Yo from Ole Miss, uh, that's done it before. We've had, uh, Cindy Hyde-Smith, Roger Wicker, Trent Lott. I could go through the list, but it's just a bunch of really good people that are either business leaders in our state or political leaders in our state that can tell their story of how I stayed in Mississippi and look what I was able to do. So, give them some confidence that they can stay here and do really good things. So, it's been a fantastic program.

(Will) I love all that, yeah.

(Paul) Oh, yeah. I think me and Will talk about it a lot, but like stay in Mississippi. There's a, there's a lot of good things about Mississippi. So yeah, do that. Another thing we talked about last time a little bit was the, uh, the Tackle the Tape Initiative.

(Michael) Yes.

(Paul) So, a little bit of time has elapsed. Well, would you provide us an update on how that's going?

(Michael) Yeah. Look, I'm so proud of that. Uh, those, the, the Ambassador Program and Tackle the Tape are probably the two things that we've done that really are moving the needle, uh, a great deal for the state, uh, amongst other things, uh, election integrity, I probably shouldn't have said in my top two. Y'all get me listed in my top 40 now. But um, it’s been so fun to have small business owners call our office and say, ‘Hey, look, this is a regulation that's really bothering my business, and I can't get off the ground. Can you help me either cut this thing or navigate it or whatever?’ And for them to know that they've got an advocate that's a statewide elected official, that's going to go to the mat with them.

Look, how do we figure this out to get your business growing has been phenomenal. The successes that we've seen, I could tell you a story after story, uh, but I will, I will save that for another one. Uh, but one of the things we did under that, and this is really cool, it's called our 29 by 29. So, it's basically a strategic roadmap under Tackle the Tape, where we're going through the OLRC, the Occupational Licensing Review Commission, that oversees, now it's 28, it was 29, boards and commissions that you have to get a license to practice in Mississippi. So, engineer, nurses, doctors, you get the picture, contractors. So, if you got a license from the state, these boards are under the OLRC.

So, we started our 29 to 29 a few years ago. And we're going under each of these boards, every single regulation, under every one of those boards, we're reviewing them. Does that make sense? Is it good for business? Is it bad for business? You know, is it is it narrowly tailored for public health benefit? You know, is it, uh, overly broad, overly burdensome? What are the things that we can dial back to make it easier to do business in Mississippi? This is one of my favorites. Today, matter of fact, it's a great time that we’re doing this. We had OLRC meeting. And two of the boards that were in there today, the Board of Architecture and the Board of Public Accountancy, uh, both adopted efforts from our 29 by 29 –

(Will) Awesome.

(Michael) you know, work, and make it easier to do business in Mississippi. And when you can do that, when you can dial back the regulatory burden, it brings more certainty to businesses.

(Will) Sure.

(Michael) I got a great tax climate. You know, I got this wild-eyed Secretary of State over here that's cutting regulations. This is where I want to be. And so, to see that come to fruition, I, we don't just talk about it, we're actually doing it, and that's, that's really good stuff. And so, we had on the accountancy side, we started off, you know, along with our 29 to 29, a fellows program. So, we had a, uh, uh, soon to be CPA was one of our fellows this year, and they were looking through the public accountancy rules and regs and said, you know what, this is, this is kind of tough for a new accountant. What if we did this? And they listened. And that's the cool part, I give a lot of credit to the Board of Public Accountancy, a lot of credit to, you know, um, our architecture friends, they, they too adopted a couple of things that we suggested to change. So, when we're seeing that, you know, the regulatory burden being lifted, you're going to see even more growth in our state. And I think that's so important, it's all too much in my opinion, too many people overlook the regulatory burden. But if you can really cut that thing. You're going to make some really good waves, uh, in business growth coming in the future.

(Paul) Absolutely.

(Will) I love it. I think you just said the proof is in the pudding. I mean, I feel like I've seen so many economic development announcements over the last couple of years. Um. And even we had Speaker White on, I guess, about a month ago now. And it's all the things we were talking about. It seems that there's just waves of positivity, it feels like. And I hope I'm not being too silly, you know, to say something like that. But it feels like there's a lot of positive momentum in Mississippi right now.

(Michael) I completely agree. And again, I give a lot of credit to the legislature with our tax structure and the continued conversation there, which is important. Even if you, and that's a, that's a bigger conversation I would love to have with you on another day, but, um, just the conversation itself. It draws people's attention to the state.

(Will) Yeah.

(Michael) Wait a minute. They may be cutting their taxes even more. And again, oh, by the way, the regulatory burden is definitely going down because you got this Secretary of State over there that's really focused on cutting those regulatory burdens. You put all that together and businesses can't help but show up here. You know, we've got sustainable and cheap, reliable power that folks can buy. We've got sites, we've got natural resources, we've got, you name it. It's just a great time to be in Mississippi, and people are recognizing that.

(Will) I couldn’t agree more.

(Paul) Co-sign that. And you teed us up. You mentioned the legislators, the legislature a second ago. Uh, we've mentioned a lot of things, but anything you're looking forward to Secretary of State's office when it comes to the 2025 session?

(Will) I think so. Yeah, I had to think about it.

(Michael) Crazy. Isn’t it crazy?

(Paul) Yeah.

(Michael) This year's gone already. Yeah.

(Will) About to be here.

(Michael) Yeah. So, um, you know, look, I'm still a policy wonk at heart from my time in the legislature, so I'm really excited to see what they do this year. Uh, last year was a lot of fun. The, the, big ticket items that kind of came up and we're being talked about. It was a lot of fun for people like me who are wonks, who love to see that policy, you know, a conversation happening for us, we'll, uh, we'll continue to look at ways to cut regulatory burden.

And one of the things we do through Tackle the Tape, and I tell these business owners, look, if it's a statute, if it's a regulation, if it's federal, you name it, no matter what it is, we want to know about it. And so, for the statutory side, when we see things that are maybe, you know, can trip businesses up, well, why don’t we go to the legislature and say, ‘Hey, look, let's, let's work on this. Let's, let's dial this back.’

Um, so they've been really helpful with that. They passed several pieces of legislation through the past three or four years that have been helpful in that realm. Uh, so we'll continue to look at ways to cut the regulatory burden through, through the statutory, uh, route. Uh, we'll also look at, obviously, elections are going to be a big topic because of the early voting –

(Will) Right.

(Michael) conversation that's going to be had. Uh, we'll continue to work on election integrity. Uh, there's a, a scorecard out there that a lot of folks kind of refer to. When I came in, we were in the top 30, I think 26, 27, somewhere in there. Uh, the next one to come out, we, I think we'll probably be in the top 10.

(Will) Oh, wow.

(Michael) So, we have done so much just good work on election integrity. Uh, but you know, that's one of those things you can never rest. Let's continue to look at ways how we can make this even stronger where folks can, can trust in it even more. Uh, we started last year, uh, MOU with some different states to work on clean air vote rolls, uh, you know, making sure that voters are clean is really the cornerstone of election integrity. Um, one of the ones that we worked with was Alabama, all the surrounding states that we've now signed them with, but work with Alabama, and I'm just giving y’all an example here. So, we were able to compare our voter registration databases, and there were 7,000 names that were registered in both Alabama and Mississippi when we did the match.

(Paul) Imagine that.

(Michael) Yeah, so, it's things like that, that we are being proactive on the Secretary of State side, uh, to make sure that, okay, well, what's some legislation that maybe we could advance to help that? Uh, so it's not just, you know, laying back and watching the legislature. It's also us doing work on our end and making sure that we're, we're pushing the plow just as much to then come up with some ideas that the legislature can help us with. So, you may see some of that. Um, outside of those two things, uh, the tidelands, uh, I know a lot of folks kind of glaze over when we say tidelands, but it's a, it's a big issue on the coast.

(Will) Yeah.

(Michael) There are a couple of. possible new casinos, uh, that, that I'll be careful what I say here because there may be some lawsuits pending, but –

(Will) You heard it here first!

(Michael) Yeah. Um, that's going to be a big topic. Uh, last year we got really close to some legislation passing, and it got tripped up at the end, but that's going to be another one that comes up with, with how we handle tidelands. So, um, that's probably the big ones. I think you're going to see some work on tax-forfeited properties.

(Will) OK.

(Michael) And it's been a conversation around Jackson of like the blight and some properties there. We've got, I think it's about 7,000 tax-forfeited properties across the state. Roughly 1,800, 1,900, somewhere that number are in Jackson and Hinds County. So, it's a big target that we want to work on. We've, we've had some meetings with legislators about that. And that's, at the end of the day, what it's all about. How do you build a team to tackle these issues? And, uh, again, you know, proof’s in the pudding. When I go sit down with my circuit clerks and my commissioners, can we come up with ideas that work? That's how you move things forward, building that team. And so, uh, we're working hard on that piece. Um, that's probably it for about now, maybe campaign finance as my trusty comms director said over there in the corner.

(Will) Always a good one.

(Michael) Yeah, that one really, um, frustrated me a bit last year. We had a great package that we got put together for the session. The Attorney General's office added a few things in, the Senate side added a few things in, and then we had the meat of what I would say in the legislation. It got gutted and wound up eventually dying. That's one of those topics that, it just makes sense, but sometimes, and I can say this because I'm a former member of the legislature. Sometimes that's one that is a little bit harder to pass because, you know, I'm that I'm taking a shot at myself in a sense –

(Will) Sure.

(Michael) with campaign finance reform, but it's something that's very, uh, important, uh, to make sure that we have transparency, full transparency in, in the campaign finance world. Uh, we saw some issues in the 20, was that 23 race, uh, that, you know, folks just said, ‘Well, gosh, we gotta do something.’ And so we are, we've put a good set of laws together that we think make the difference. And so, hopefully that will come to fruition. Uh, you know, we'll, we'll see, but that's another big one that you'll see talked about by our office.

(Paul) Goodness. Just a, just a few things –

(Will) I was about to say.

(Paul) on the plate right now.

(Will) You sure you don’t have anything else you want to throw on the list? I mean, yeah.

(Michael) Yes. That’s right.

(Will) And, as always, things pop up as they do.

(Michael) That’s exactly right.

(Will) You very well could have a dozen more things –

(Michael) You're exactly right.

(Will) come January. We will not wish that upon you.

(Michael) Thanks!

(Will) Yeah, with that being said, we'll try to move into even a little less controversial, well, depending on your answers, I should say, but our fun questions at the end of the show here. We love to eat as a podcast, as a people.

(Michael) Hey, come on!

(Will) So, our two questions, I'll let Paul have the music, uh, question for you, but a place to eat, you know, you, you, you get out and you have to go around and travel a lot, obviously back home is towards the coast, but maybe, is there a spot that, uh, you don't get to go to very often or somewhere new maybe you've discovered?

(Michael) You know, it's hard not to say something that's seafood related.

(Will) I get it.

(Michael) Um, if you go to Bay St. Louis, um, the Blind Tiger is just one of my favorite places. It's so good. And the view is, is incredible. That said on the road, uh, I drive 49 quite often, and Shady Acres is just absolutely ridiculous. So, if y'all have never been to Shady Acres, please take the time to go. It's a, one of those, if my family's in the vehicle, we're passing Shady Acres, we're stopping. And if it's not to eat a meal, it's to get those chocolate chip cookies or to get some –

(Will) Homemade ice cream!

(Michael) Homemade ice cream, or you name it. But their burger. Oh my gosh.

(Will) Phenomenal.

(Michael) It is unbelievable. And then I, you know, I just got to talk about the ribs, and I got to talk about the chicken and it’s so good.

(Will) I don't think I've ever gotten anything but the burger, to be honest.
Burger, the burger and ice cream.

(Michael) It's, it's, come on man.

(Will) I can’t beat it. It's funny that you mention that one. I think that may be the only, you may be the only person that's ever mentioned Shady Acres before.

(Michael) It's sneaky.

(Paul) I think so.

(Will) So, if you're, you know, if you're in a hurry, which usually if you're on that stretch of 49, you're focused on what the next stop is. Yeah, you can blink and go right past it.

(Michael) That's exactly right.

(Will) Wonderful.

(Michael) It’s solid.

(Paul) Solid.

(Will) Excellent answer. On that note, a small shout out here to our buddy Trey Wells, uh, giving us an Airport Grocery in Cleveland, Mississippi, so keep the –

(Michael) Oh, that’s right.

(Will) keep the, if you got your, listeners out there, food recommendations, bring them all.

(Michael) Trey, that is a solid selection. I'm for you there. That's a good one, too.

(Paul) From an MDOT, that’s an MDOT employee.

(Will) That’s right.

(Paul) There we go.

(Will) Airport Grocery on Highway 61. We're gonna come and uh, we're looking for you to pick up the tab, Trey.

(Michael) That's right, Trey. I’ll call you, too.

(Paul) Of course. Alright, so we got one more question for you, and honestly don't remember if we asked you this last time, but uh, concert. Is there a favorite concert that sticks out in your mind, or if not, maybe something recently that you've, music that you've seen?

(Michael) You know, one that's really special to me is, um, when I won back in 2019, I promised my wife that we'd take a trip. And so, we went to Boston and spent a few days up there. It just so happens that George Strait was playing as well–

(Will) Oh, wow.

(Michael) in Gillette Stadium. So, we get on the train to go down and she has no idea where we're going. And so, uh, you know, I think she went to use the restroom or something. I told everybody around me, ‘Don't say a word, you know, just kind of keep it, keep it kind of quiet here.’ They all have cowboy hats on and boots and stuff. So, you know, it's kind of hard to hide. And, uh, she would want to know where we're going. I was like, ‘Oh, you'll see.’ It's just, you know, I don't even remember what I said, but they were so good at playing along. We get there. And I can't remember who was with him, but it was another really, really good act. And he absolutely crushed it.

(Will) Of course.

(Michael) She'd always wanted to see him. And so, it was really cool to be able to surprise her. Number one, a trip to Boston, but number two, uh, that he was playing there. So, that's one of my, I can't help but mention that one –

(Will) That’s pretty good.

(Michael) because of her.

(Will) Now, was that a, was that a November, December trip?

(Michael) It was, yeah, probably November. Um, so we won –

(Will) Gillette in November.

(Michael) Yeah.

(Will) How was that?

(Michael) It was, it was actually nice.

(Will) OK.

(Paul) Oh, alright.

(Will) I respect it.

(Michael) Yeah, it was cool. Um, and the food was phenomenal. As y'all well know, Boston's got some really good food, but it was just really neat for her to be able to have that experience, for us to share that experience. Her first time to Boston, first time to hear George Strait. It was, it was really cool.

(Will) And in Gillette. King George and in Gillette.

(Michael) In Gillette.

(Will) That’s pretty good.

(Michael) Yeah, it was cool.

(Will) Drew’s jealous over there. That's his favorite artist.

(Paul) That’s amazing. He's always talking about it.

(Michael) He’s solid, Drew, he’s solid.

(Will) Excellent answers right there.

(Paul) Oh, yeah, definitely. Uh, Secretary Watson, of course, busy time. Thank you so much for dropping by. You dropped a ton of knowledge.

(Michael) That’s right.

(Paul) And thank you to your team for everything over there. Uh, and with that, uh, we’ll just wrap things up. Thank you to our listeners, our viewers for tuning in to the Extra Mile Podcast. You can watch and listen to episodes by visiting GoMDOT.com/TheExtraMile. Follow us on social media @MississippiDOT is the handle there. We want to thank our producer/editor, Drew Hall, for holding things behind the scenes, and remember to drive smart out there on Mississippi highways.

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