Absentee voting likely reaching record numbers here

Mississippi is the only state that does not have early voting but that hasn’t prevented unofficial early voting in the form of absentee ballots, which has much heavier than usual.

Union County Circuit Clerk Phyllis Stanford said this weekend that 1,182 absentee ballots had been requested and provided, and 1,050 had already been returned to her office.

None has been rejected.

“We have voted 63 today,” she said Saturday morning. Her office was open from 8 a.m. to noon for the convenience of voters who could not easily go by the office during the week.

Stanford said the total absentee ballots cast four years ago was only about 800 and there is still a week left for this year’s number to increase.

The county has about 16,800 registered voters and it’s rare for turnout to top 50 percent, event in a hotly-contested election year. If one assumes a 50-percent turnout, that means 12.5 percent of county voters have already cast their ballots. This year, though, participation likely will top 50 percent.

The secretary of state’s office has formulated COVID-19 safety procedures for those voting.

Stanford said voters will be given pens to keep and styluses to use with the voting machines. The only thing they will have to touch is the plastic voting card that is inserted in the machine and it will be cleaned each time between uses.

Voters are being asked to wear masks and masks will be provided, but people without masks still will be allowed to vote.

Anyone who has COVID-19 symptoms or has been exposed to someone with the illness will have to vote curbside or in the open air, however.

Election workers, many of whom may be at high risk due to age, will have masks and gloves. Plastic partitions will be used and hand sanitizer will be available.

Of course, social distancing will be enforced and, if practical, separate entrance and exit paths will be used.

If election workers have difficulty matching a face to a photo ID, the voter may be asked to step back six feet and briefly lower his or her mask for identification.

A variety of signs will be posted to remind voters about safety procedures.

Of course all pre-pandemic election regulations will apply.

It is unlawful for any candidate or any representative of a candidate to post or distribute cards, posters, or other campaign literature within 150 feet of any entrance to a building in which an election is being conducted.

However, if a polling place is within 150 feet of private property, the owner of that property may have campaign material on the property.

No loitering is allowed within 30 feet of the polling place. After casting a vote, a voter should leave to make room for other voters.

This means that wearing T-shirts, buttons, stickers, or anything bearing a candidate’s name or likeness within 150 feet of any entrance to a polling place constitutes campaigning and is prohibited by Mississippi law.

Although people have had plenty of time to update voter registration information, some have not and may encounter delays in voting.

You still won’t be turned away, any more than you would be in you refused to wear a mask.

However, you may be asked to vote an affidavit ballot. An affidavit ballot won’t be good until the voter offers proof of proper registration within five business days.

Reasons you might need to vote an affidavit ballot:

• Election workers can’t find your name in the pollbook.
• You have moved within the county but did not update address information.
• You are listed as having cast an absentee ballot in the election already.
• You don’t have an acceptable photo ID.
• The photo on the photo ID “does not fairly depict” the voter.
• The signature on the photo ID is not substantially similar to the same as it appears in the pollbook.