/Higher absentee ballot requests could mean larger Tuesday election turnout

Higher absentee ballot requests could mean larger Tuesday election turnout

According to Delbert Hosemann’s numbers, 46,618 ballots were requested for the current election and 42,575 were returned. In 2015, 41,392 ballots were requested, and 37,318 were received. The amount of absentee ballots returned and requested is usually a measure of how large the turnout will be for the next election. Mississippi does not offer early voting. However, anyone who is out of the state on Election Day can still vote by absentee ballot by visiting the circuit clerk’s offices or requesting an absentee voter ballot. Absentee ballots must be returned to the circuit clerk’s by Monday, 5 p.m. Absentee ballots for overseas and military voters must be returned to the circuit clerk’s office by Monday, 5 p.m. Many political observers believe Tuesday will be the first election in modern times where more people vote for the Republican primary than the Democratic primary. 2015 saw 299,278 votes in the Democratic primary, compared with 279,428 for the Republican side. This year, however, there are more hotly contested primaries at the statewide level in Republican primary – even for the office as governor. There have been some counties in the north Mississippi like Tippah where local officials have switched to Republican Party. The majority of candidates running at the local level in these counties are Republican. Combining the contested statewide election and the increasing number of Republican candidates on the local level is expected to increase turnout in Republican primary. Although turnout in the Republican primary is expected to be higher than that in the Democratic primaries, there were more Democratic absentee ballots requested and returned by Monday night. There were 26,382 Democratic ballots submitted and 23,615 received, compared to the 20,236 Republican ballots that were requested and 18,598 returned. People can vote in any of the primaries that take place on Tuesday under state law. A person who votes in one party’s primary on Tuesday can not vote in the runoff for the other party’s primary three weeks later. If a person doesn’t vote in one primary on Tuesday, they can vote in the runoff of any party on August 27. If no candidate receives the majority vote in the primary, a runoff will be required. The Secretary of State’s Office reports that more than 1.8million Mississippians are registered to vote, out of an estimated 2.2 million voters.