Voting deadline and sample ballots for Tuesday

Saturday, March 7, is the last day anyone can cast an absentee ballot for the March 10 primary elections.

Union County Circuit Clerk Phyllis Stanford will have her office open from 8 a.m. until noon Saturday for the convenience of last-minute absentee voters.

Anyone who is mailing back an absentee ballot instead of voting in person has until 5 p.m. Monday, the day before the election, for it to be received in Stanford’s office.

On Tuesday, voters will select their preference for Democratic and Republican nominees for president, senator and representative and winners will be placed on the general election ballot Nov. 3.

Voters will have to choose either a Democratic or Republican ballot March 10, but a mixture of party candidates will be on the same ballot Nov. 10. State law says a person may vote in a party primary only if he or she “intends to support the nominations made in the primary in which he participates.” There is no realistic way to enforce this, however.

If no candidate receives at least 50 percent of the total vote in the primary, the top two vote-getters will face each other in a run-off March 31. That was only likely to happen in the Democratic presidential primary, due to the large number of candidates to divide votes.

However, most of the Democratic presidential candidates on the ballot have dropped out of the race, reducing the likelihood of a runoff to a considerable degree.

Stanford also reminds the public that some voters will go to different locations to vote from the last time they cast ballots.

The most recent change is precinct 501, which has been voting at Northeast Mississippi Community College.

Now, those voters will go to Watson Grove Baptist Church at 521 E. Bankhead Street. The precinct will be renamed Watson Grove as well. This is the county’s largest precinct and the move should make more parking space available as well as space in the voting area.

Other changes have been made, mostly to move voting away from county schools. The move is partly due to school security reasons, but also because of crowding.

Voters who used to go to 103 Myrtle School will now go to Temple Baptist Church at 1026 North St. in Myrtle.

204 Ingomar voters will now go to Ingomar Baptist Church at 1112 CR 90.

202 West Union voters will now go to Conlee Construction at 1533 Hwy. 30 West.

404 East Union will now go to Ellistown Baptist Church at 1006 CR 185.

Signs will be posted at the former locations for those who forget or are not aware of the changes.

This year, Union Countians will vote on a president, U. S. senator, U. S. representative, Supreme Court justice, five election commissioners and one county school board trustee in the November general election.

The only local race the new law requiring longer residency might relate to is for Union County Election Commissioner, since the qualifying period for those five district offices runs through June 1.

Although it will not be on the primary ballot, a proposed constitutional amendment legalizing medical marijuana will be on the ballot in November.

Historically, Mississippi voters have little impact on presidential elections, with only six electoral votes, one of the fewest numbers in the country.

That is likely to be the case again this year.

Donald Trump is predicted to be the almost-certain winner of the Republican primary here and the state is likely to vote overwhelmingly in favor of him in the general election, based on totals four years ago.

Democrats are predicted to go with Biden at this point, but Mississippi simply does not have enough influence or unpredictability to qualify as a “battleground” state for either party.

Incumbent Republicans Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith and Rep. Trent Kelly are unopposed in their primaries.

Below is a list of candidates as they will appear on the ballots.

Although 10 presidential candidates are listed, seven have dropped out of the race. Their names appear below in italics.

Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday and voters need to have an approved photo ID in order to vote.

Sample ballots:

Democrat

For United States President

Joseph R. Biden

Michael R. Bloomberg

Pete Buttigieg

Tulsi Gabbard

Amy Klobuchar

Deval Patrick

Bernie Sanders

Tom Steyer

Elizabeth Warren

Andrew Yang

For United States Senate

Tobey Bernard Bartee

Jensen Bohren

Mike Espy

For U. S. House of Representatives

1^stCongressional District

Antonia Eliason

Republican

For United States President

Roque “Rocky” De La Fuente

Donald J. Trump

Bill Weid

For United States Senate

Cindy Hyde-Smith

For U. S. House of Representatives

1^stCongressional District

Trent Kelly