Absentee voting for the Aug. 6 primaries opened Monday as scheduled in Tallahatchie County, according to Circuit Clerk Daphane Neal.
Voters may cast an absentee ballot in Mississippi if they are away from their county of residence on primary election day, temporarily or permanently disabled, over 65, and for a number of other reasons.
In addition, Monday, July 8, is the deadline for registering to vote in the Aug. 6 primary election. Therefore, Mississippians hoping to cast a ballot on Aug. 6 have just over one week to complete and return their voter registration applications.
Neal’s offices in Charleston and Sumner will be open on Saturday, July 6, from 8 a.m. until noon, and from 8-12 and 1-5 on July 8 to accommodate in-person voter registration applications and to receive applications sent by mail, which must have a postmark date of no later than July 8.
According to the Mississippi secretary of state’s office, a downloadable registration application, which should be mailed or delivered to the circuit clerk in the county in which the voter resides, is accessible on Y’all Vote, www.yallvote.sos.ms.gov, the secretary of state’s online voter information center.
An individual is eligible to register to vote if he or she is at least 18 years old, or will be 18 years old by the Nov. 5 general election date; is a Mississippi resident; has not been convicted in a Mississippi court of a disenfranchising crime; and has not been adjudicated as mentally incompetent. Mississippi has more than 1.8 million active registered voters, according to the secretary of state’s office.
Citizens who are already registered to vote in Mississippi, but have moved or changed their name since the last election, must update their registration information in order to cast a ballot in the correct precinct on primary election day. This information can be updated online at the Y’all Vote website.
The secretary of state’s office noted that a voter updating their registration information on Y’all Vote must provide his or her county, name, date of birth, and the last four digits of his or her Social Security number to locate previously-existing information in the Statewide Elections Management System.
The voter must also be located in the Mississippi Department of Public Safety database by providing his or her name, address, date of birth, and driver’s license or identification number exactly as the information appears on the Mississippi-issued license or ID. After the voter’s address or name is updated, the new information is electronically transmitted to the circuit clerk of the voter’s county of residence.
For more information about registering to vote in Mississippi or changing an address or name, call the circuit clerk’s office in Charleston at 647-8758 or in Sumner at 375-8515, visit the secretary of state’s Y’all Vote website, or call the secretary of state’s Elections Division at 601-576-2550.
In other election news:
» Monday, July 29, at 5 p.m. is the voter registration deadline for anyone wishing to cast a ballot in the Aug. 27 primary runoff elections.
» Noon on Saturday, Aug. 3, is the deadline for voters to cast an absentee ballot in person at the circuit clerk’s office. Neal’s offices will be open from 8 a.m. until noon on Saturday, July 27, as well as Saturday, Aug. 3, to facilitate in-person absentee voting.
» Absentee ballots returned by mail must be received in the circuit clerk’s office by 5 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 5.
