NATCHEZ — In true democratic fashion, an election review reform panel will, with community member input, review the general democratic process in the State of Mississippi.

Created from Senate Bill 2910, the Comprehensive Election Reform Review Panel is traveling through the state this month making five stops to discuss with residents what can be done to improve the election process.

And today at 6 p.m. at the city council chambers, the panel will be asking for input from Adams County.

Panel member and Adams County Election Commissioner Larry Gardner said a number of topics will be discussed — voter identification, early voting, voter registration, absentee voting, voting patterns, election education and training of election officials.

He said the hope is that if things are improved, there will be more participation in the election process.

“That’s key to the democratic process,” he said. “You truly have the will of the people if you get people out to vote.”

And there are several stumbling blocks in the system right now, he said.

Voter identification is one major problem. Right now, voters do not have to show any form of identification in order to vote, he said.

Gardner said this causes illegal registration and punches holes in the system in general.

“That’s becoming an issue,” he said.

Showing forms of ID has become common in many arenas, and Gardner said it’s high time that’s transferred over to voting.

“Here in the U.S., you can’t get a job without two forms of ID,” he said. “You can’t get on an airplane, you can’t get a hotel room, you can’t do anything without some kind of identification.

“It’s just the way of life now.”

He said if voter identification is done in a simple way, it won’t be intimidating to the average citizen to go vote.

And there’s yet another problem when it comes to voting.

“Absentee voting is very cumbersome,” he said.

Having to fill out intricate paperwork in perfect form doesn’t always work out too well. Errors are found and, subsequently, ballots are tossed.

“It’s terrible the amount of votes we have to throw out because of technicalities,” he said.

Gardner said ultimately, the state doesn’t want another issue like the local elections in Wilkinson County.

“We just want to try to put together a program so we don’t get another one of those,” he said. “It destroys the democratic process.”

The first meeting was Tuesday on the Gulf Coast and Gardner said the participation was good.

After Natchez, the panel will make stops in Booneville, Flowood and Greenville.

All the findings and information will be presented to the state legislation on Dec. 1.