Fashion-forward Circuit Clerk’s office: “Business as usual” for upcoming election

New Albany, MS- Like election officials all across America, those in Union County have been intensely busy for several weeks preparing for the general election, now just a week away.

Election related business in Union and all other Mississippi counties is managed by the office of the county circuit clerk and the county election commissioners, who work closely with the circuit clerk. Voter registration, absentee voting, operations of precinct polling places (20 of them in Union County), voter identification on election day, oversight of the actual voting, counting and certifying the results — all of these are managed by the circuit clerk’s office and the county’s election commission.

All hands were on deck at the county courthouse Monday morning: the circuit clerk, her deputies and all five election commissioners were hard at work in the two offices just inside the front door of the Union County Courthouse. Thousands of pieces of information must be handled exactly right to assure a fair and accurate election.

Circuit Clerk Phyllis Stanford and Lauren Hatton, one of the deputy clerks in her office, added a little pizzaz to the tedious operation by their fashion choices. Both were wearing outfits with black and white horizontal stripes, the same as those worn by many prisoners in the Union County Jail.  Sheriff Jimmy Edwards said the prison garb with the black and white horizontal stripes are normally reserved for State of Mississippi prisoners, those already sentenced and serving time, who are housed in the county jail.