Voter registration deadline is Monday

Monday, Feb. 10, is the deadline to register to vote in the March 10 presidential preference primary. That’s also the deadline to update your voter registration information if you have changed address or other status. Otherwise, you may face delays when trying to vote.

Union County Circuit Clerk Phyllis Stanford is also allowing qualified voters to cast absentee ballots for the primary.

She will have her office open Saturday, Feb. 8, from 8 a.m. until noon for the convenience of those who want to register or cast an absentee ballot. Absentee ballots are for the elderly, incapacitated or those who simply cannot go to their polling location between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. on Election Day.

Because the March 10 vote included political party primaries, each voter will have to declare for either the Democratic or Republican Party. Under state law, a person who votes in a party primary is saying he or she intends to support the nomination of that candidate, but this is largely unenforceable.

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’s only likely to happen in the Democratic presidential primary, due to the large number of candidates to divide votes.

Republican voters will have three candidates for president and unopposed candidates for U. S. Representative and U. S. Senator.

Democrats will have 10 choices for president (although some may have dropped out of the campaign) and three candidates for U. S. Senator. They have only one candidate for U. S. Representative.

The only local race the new law 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.

Democratic presidential candidates: Joseph R. Biden,Michael R. Bloomberg, Pete Buttigieg, Tulsi Gabbard, Amy Klobuchar, Deval Patrick, Bernie Sanders, Tom Steyer, Elizabeth Warren, Andrew Yang

Democratic senate candidates: Tobey Bernard Bartee, Jensen Bohren, Mike Espy

Democratic candidate for representative: Antonia Eliason

Republican candidates for president: Roque “Rocky” De La Fuente, Donald J. Trump, Bill Weid

Republican senate candidate: Cindy Hyde-Smith

Republican candidate for representative: Trent Kelly