Does Mississippi's HB 1365 ban on private election funding cover student art and essay contests about voting?
Plain-English summary
In 2022 Mississippi enacted House Bill 1365, the state's response to the wave of "Zuckerbucks" and similar private grants to election offices that had emerged in 2020. The bill is short and pointed: no agency or state or local official responsible for conducting elections may solicit, accept, use, or dispose of any donation in the form of money, grants, property, or personal services from an individual or a nongovernmental entity for the purpose of funding election-related expenses or voter education, voter outreach, or voter registration programs.
Secretary of State Michael Watson asked whether the law applied to "Promote the Vote," a long-running K-12 voter-education partnership between his office and Mississippi Public Broadcasting (MPB) and its foundation. The program included classroom materials, mock elections, and student art and essay contests. Prize money for the contests had historically been raised through private donations to the MPB Foundation. Watson asked specifically whether art and essay contests that stress the importance of voting, but do not require a separate voter-education component, fell within the statute's prohibition.
The AG's answer has two pieces.
First, on classification. Whether a particular activity is "election-related expenses or voter education, voter outreach or voter registration programs" is a factual question. The AG does not decide it. The Secretary of State's office decides it, and the decision is subject to judicial review. The opinion gives examples of how the line might be drawn: a program "in civics or government" might fall outside the statute's coverage; a program tied to voter registration or specifically promoting voting would likely fall within it. The AG cites § 37-13-5(3), which requires Mississippi public schools to teach "the duties and obligations of citizenship, patriotism, Americanism and respect for an obedience to law" as a reminder that civics education is a separate statutory category.
Second, on what HB 1365 does and does not prohibit. HB 1365 does not stop election officials from running, participating in, or promoting voter-education programs. The AG flags that point twice. What HB 1365 prohibits is the specific funding mechanism: private donations to the official or agency for that purpose. Programs funded with appropriated public dollars, or programs run by other entities (like the MPB Foundation) that do not flow donations through the election official, are not the target.
The practical effect is that Watson's office has to draw careful lines. Promote the Vote can continue as a civics program, but the funding flows for any portion that crosses into voter education, outreach, or registration cannot run through the SOS office from private donors.
What this means for you
If you run a voter-education or civics program in partnership with Mississippi election officials
You can still run the program. What you cannot do is route private money through the election official's office to fund any part of it that qualifies as election-related, voter education, voter outreach, or voter registration. If the funder is comfortable, restructure the donation to flow to a partner organization (like a foundation or nonprofit) that does the funding-and-spending without involving the election official as the recipient, custodian, or disposer of the money. The opinion specifically does not prohibit officials from "participating in, promoting, or administering" such programs.
If you are a county election official or circuit clerk
The donation prohibition reaches local election officials, not just the SOS. If a private grant, no matter how well-intentioned, is offered to your office to fund poll worker training, ballot drop boxes, voter outreach mailings, or anything similar, HB 1365 says you cannot accept it. Direct the donor to the appropriations process or to a private partner that does the work without you holding the money.
If you are a public school administrator or civics teacher
Civics instruction under § 37-13-5(3) is a separate statutory category and is not the target of HB 1365. You can still teach about voting, run mock elections, and partner with state or local officials on educational events. The program structure matters: if your program receives funding from an election official's office that came from a private donor, that funding flow is the problem, not the lesson plan.
If you are a nonprofit funder of election or civics work
You cannot give to a Mississippi election official's office. You can give to a school district, university, foundation, or nonprofit that runs the program. The AG opinion is helpful here because it does not say the program is forbidden, only that the funding routing is.
If you are the Secretary of State or a SOS attorney
You hold the classification call. The AG opinion explicitly leaves "is this voter education versus civics" to your office, subject to judicial review. Document the analysis on each program. If a program could plausibly be classified as voter education in court, route any private funding away from your office.
Common questions
Q: What does HB 1365 actually prohibit?
A: The full text: no agency or state or local official responsible for conducting elections may solicit, accept, use, or dispose of any donation in the form of money, grants, property, or personal services from an individual or a nongovernmental entity for the purpose of funding election-related expenses or voter education, voter outreach, or voter registration programs. The four prohibited verbs (solicit, accept, use, dispose) and the four covered categories (election-related expenses, voter education, voter outreach, voter registration) are the operative parts.
Q: Does HB 1365 ban government grants too?
A: No. The prohibition is on donations from "an individual or a nongovernmental entity." Federal or state grant funds, and inter-agency transfers, are not covered.
Q: What is "voter education" versus "civics education"?
A: The opinion does not define either. It signals that civics or government education (under § 37-13-5(3)) is a separate category. As a working line: if a program teaches how the political system works without specifically promoting voting or registration, it likely sits in civics. If it specifically encourages registering to vote, casting a ballot, or learning how to participate in a specific upcoming election, it is more likely voter education. The factual classification is the SOS's call.
Q: Can the Secretary of State still partner with MPB on Promote the Vote?
A: The opinion does not forbid the partnership. It says the SOS cannot accept private donations for the parts of the program that fall within HB 1365's covered categories. If MPB Foundation raises and holds the funds, and the funds never flow through the SOS office, the partnership can continue. The fact pattern in the request even noted that Promote the Vote prize monies "have been funded with private donations through the MPB foundation," so the structural fix may already be largely in place.
Q: Does HB 1365 apply to past donations?
A: AG opinions are limited to prospective questions. HB 1365 took effect during the 2022 session. Any past handling of private donations is outside the scope of this opinion.
Q: What happens if an election official violates HB 1365?
A: The bill itself sets the prohibition. Enforcement falls to the AG and other authorities under generally applicable state law (including potential challenges by interested parties). The opinion does not address remedies in detail.
Q: Are personal services covered?
A: Yes. The bill sweeps in donations of "money, grants, property or personal services." A private organization donating volunteer hours to the SOS office for a covered program would be in the same category as a cash donation.
Background and statutory framework
HB 1365 is part of a national wave of state legislation passed in 2021 and 2022 in response to private election grants made during the 2020 cycle, particularly grants from the Center for Tech and Civic Life. Critics argued such grants gave private donors disproportionate influence over election administration; defenders argued the grants filled a funding gap during a pandemic election. By 2022, more than two dozen states had enacted some form of restriction on private election funding. Mississippi's HB 1365 sits in that wave, with a fairly broad scope (it covers voter education, outreach, and registration, not just direct election administration).
The text is short, which leaves room for interpretation about what counts as "election-related" or "voter education." The AG's opinion declines to draw the line in the abstract, deferring to the SOS's factual classification.
§ 37-13-5(3) is cited as a reminder that Mississippi public schools have an existing statutory mandate to teach civics. That category is not what HB 1365 targets. The AG implicitly suggests civics-only programming would not run into the bill.
Citations
- House Bill 1365, Reg. Sess. (Miss. 2022) (private election funding prohibition)
- Miss. Code Ann. § 37-13-5(3) (public school civics education requirement)
Source
- Landing page: https://attorneygenerallynnfitch.com/divisions/opinions-and-policy/recent-opinions/
- Original PDF: https://attorneygenerallynnfitch.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/M.Watson-September-13-2022-House-Bill-No.-1365-Laws-of-2022.pdf
Original opinion text
September 13, 2022
The Honorable Michael Watson
Secretary of State
Post Office Box 136
Jackson, Mississippi 39205
Re:
House Bill No. 1365 (Laws of 2022)
Dear Secretary Watson:
The Office of the Attorney General has received your request for an official opinion.
Background
In the 2022 legislative session, the Mississippi Legislature enacted House Bill 1365 ("H.B. 1365"),
which prohibits state and local election officials from soliciting, accepting, using, or disposing of
private donations for certain election expenses and programs. H.B. 1365, Reg. Sess. (Miss. 2022).
In your request, you describe what you term as a "voter education program" that the Office of the
Secretary of State has administered in prior years as follows:
The Secretary of State's Office has been a long-time sponsor of Promote the Vote
(PTV), a comprehensive non-partisan K-12 voter education project in partnership
with Mississippi Public Broadcasting and its foundation (MPB). In the project,
teachers are provided with classroom content to educate their students on the
election process in Mississippi. Students also participate in mock elections and
other contests, such as art and essay contests, centered around the importance of
voter engagement. While the project also encourages voter registration for those
students who are eligible to register to vote, a student is not required to "learn about
elections" to participate. Since its inception, the role of the SOS with respect to the
PTV has been to administer the program, which includes providing educational
materials, implementing and judging the art and essay contests, and working closely
with the MPB foundation when soliciting and awarding prize monies to contest
winners. Historically, the prize monies have been funded with private donations
through the MPB foundation. It should be noted that these prize monies are not
used for any of the educational material provided through PTV.
Question Presented
Does "election-related expenses or voter education, voter outreach or voter registration programs"
as contemplated in H.B. 1365 include art and essay contests that stress the importance of voting,
but do not require a voter education component?
Brief Response
Whether the art and essay contests as described in your request are "election-related expenses or
voter education, voter outreach or voter registration programs" under H.B. 1365 is a factual
determination to be made by the Secretary of State's Office subject to judicial review. H.B. 1365
does not prohibit election officials from participating in or administering voter education, outreach,
or registration programs. Rather, H.B. 1365 prohibits election officials from soliciting, accepting,
using, or disposing of private donations for such programs.
Applicable Law and Discussion
H.B. 1365 provides:
No agency or state or local official responsible for conducting elections may solicit,
accept, use or dispose of any donation in the form of money, grants, property or
personal services from an individual or a nongovernmental entity for the purpose
of funding election-related expenses or voter education, voter outreach or voter
registration programs.
H.B. 1365, Reg. Sess. (Miss. 2022). You ask specifically about contests that do not require a voter
education component. However, H.B. 1365 prohibits the use of private donations for any election-related expenses, not merely those with a voter education component. Pursuant to H.B. 1365, the
Office of the Secretary of State is prohibited from soliciting, accepting, using, or disposing of
private donations for the funding of election-related expenses or voter education, voter outreach
or voter registration programs. Whether the Promote the Vote program you describe is "election-related expenses or voter education, voter outreach or voter registration programs," or, for
example, a program in civics or government, is a factual determination that this office cannot
make. See Miss. Code Ann. § 37-13-5(3) (requiring a course of study in all public schools on "the
duties and obligations of citizenship, patriotism, Americanism and respect for an obedience to
law"). Notably, H.B. 1365 does not prohibit election officials from participating in, promoting, or
administering voter education, outreach, or registration programs. Rather, H.B. 1365 prohibits
election officials from soliciting, accepting, using, or disposing of private donations for such
programs.
If this office may be of any further assistance to you, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Sincerely,
LYNN FITCH, ATTORNEY GENERAL
By:
/s/ Beebe Garrard
Beebe Garrard
Special Assistant Attorney General