There are 2.3 million voting age Mississippians, so this year's vote was a mere 28 percent of the possible voters. That means turnout will be the wildcard in the runoff on August 27. Anyone voting in the Democratic primary cannot vote in the Republican runoff, but people who did not vote in the primary can vote in the runoff.
Looking at the raw numbers, it's hard to imagine that Tate Reeves would fail to get just a few more percentage points. Bill Waller would have to get almost all of Robert Foster's votes unless there were a wave of new voters.
Winston County could provide a wave of new voters. With over 4000 voters who did not vote on Aug. 6 if those voters went and voted in the Republican Primary, it could easily be the deciding factor in the election.
With three state offices on the Republican ballot, those who missed having a voice by voting on Aug. 6 could go to the polls on August 27 and decide who would be on the November ballot for 3 extremely important state offices.
If a large swath of registered voters who did not vote would go to the polls on Aug. 27, this could be the oddest Governor’s election in the history of the state. It already has some strange parts such as Waller beat Reeves in Rankin County, Reeves' home base in the August 6 election. Waller beat Reeves by 20 percent in Reeves' home precinct.
Editor’s note: Joseph McCain is the publisher of The Choctaw Plaindealer, The Webster Progress Times and Winston County Journal. He maybe reached at newsroom@winston countyjournal.com or 662-803-5236.
