As of 8 a.m. Tuesday morning, 46,545 Mississippians had requested absentee ballots for the upcoming August 6 Primary Election, and 41,097 absentee ballots had been received back to the Circuit Clerks’ Offices across the state.
Winston County had received 581 absentee ballots which was a decrease from the 2015 county races when around 700 were received.
Comparatively, in the 2015 Primary Election, 41,392 absentee ballots were requested, with 37,318 absentee ballots received. The number of votes cast in the 2015 Republican Primary Election totaled 279,428 and the number of votes cast in the 2015 Democratic Primary Election totaled 299,278, for a grand total of 578,706 votes cast. More than 1.8 million Mississippians are registered to vote in the upcoming election. Census data estimates the State’s eligible voting age population to be about 2.2 million.
Democratic and Republicans primary runoffs will be held August 27 with general election set for Nov. 5. Results for the August 6 Primary election results will be in the August 14 edition. ( A column on the election is on page 4A).
In Winston County, the election had went well with the new ballots and equipment at the newspaper’s deadline.
In other county’s, the Secretary of State’s Office had received reports of steady turnout at the polls. There have been no reports of long lines and relatively few problems across the State in the Primary Election.
The following issues have been reported at select polling places across the State including:
Hinds County:
At the United Methodist Church precinct in Raymond, no poll workers were present for the Republican Primary Election and therefore, no ballots were available.
At the Oak Forest Elementary precinct in Jackson, no poll workers were present for the Republican Primary Election and therefore, no ballots were available.
At the Pine View Church precinct in Clinton, incorrect ballots were issued in the Republican Primary Election.
Madison County:
At the Victory Baptist Church precinct, no poll workers were present for the Democratic Primary Election, and therefore, no ballots were available.
Primary Elections are conducted by political parties in Mississippi. In Winston County, the political parties contract with the election commissioners to hold the election and ensure it runs smoothly. The Secretary of State’s Office has observers in precincts across the State. Problems at the polls observed by State observers or otherwise reported to the Elections Division will be referred to the authorities, including the Attorney General’s Office or appropriate District Attorney’s Office. The Secretary of State’s Office has no enforcement authority to resolve problems in primary elections.
