Circuit clerks ready for election

New Albany, MS– Election officials in all 82 Mississippi counties were finishing preparations today for the 2016 general election to be held tomorrow, Nov. 8th.

The Union County Election Commission and Union County Circuit Clerk Phyllis Stanford and her staff worked at the county courthouse Monday to be sure voting machines and all else are ready at 20 voting precincts around the county. All polling places in Mississippi will open at 7 a.m. and close at 7 p.m. (See list of all Union County voting places.)

The election drawing the most attention is for electors who would vote for Hillary Clinton or Donald J. Trump in the electoral college. Those votes will be tabulated in each county and sent  on to state election officials.

Election officials in each state then must make final decisions in any controversies over the appointment of their electors and complete them no later than Dec. 13th, six days before the meeting of the Electors in each state on Dec. 19th. After the electors meet in their individual states on Dec. 19th, state officials have nine days to certify the electoral vote and  deliver the certification to the president of the U.S. Senate (the vice-president of the United States).

Congress then meets in joint session on January 6th to count the electoral votes.

The close and bitter contest between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump  in this year’s presidential election could mean official election results may be delayed by recounts, court actions, etc. In the 2000 presidential election contest between Texas Governor George W. Bush and U.S. Vice President Albert Gore, Jr., the general election was held on November 7th. However, because of recounts and lawsuits, mainly over the vote count in Florida, the final outcome was not decided until more than a month later, Dec. 12th, when the U.S. Supreme Court awarded Florida’s 25 electoral votes to Republican Bush. Gore actually got more popular votes nationwide than Bush, receiving 48.4 percent of all the votes in the country compared to 47.9 percent for Bush. Bush was elected with 271 electoral votes while Gore received 266.

As per a long-standing tradition, the circuit clerk’s office staff and the county election officials will count the Union County votes in public in the circuit court room on the second floor of the, county courthouse starting when the polls close.

Everyone who did not vote early is urged to cast their vote tomorrow, and all voters are reminded to bring their picture ID.

Union County voting locations: voting-precincts