Mississippi residents that want a say in the future of local and federal government are running up against a major deadline. Friday is the last day to register to vote in this state for the Nov. 5 general election. Mississippi Secretary of State Eric Clark, in a statement on his office’s official Web site, encouraged all college students to take part in this year’s election.
“(This year) is another historic year,” Clark said. “Our state will elect only four U.S. Representatives for the first time since 1850. We will also vote in one election for U.S. Senate.”
Clark, the state’s chief election officer, referred to the heated race between incumbent congressmen Chip Pickering, a republican, and Ronnie Shows, a democrat. He also referred to incumbent republican Senator Thad Cochran’s race for re-election.
Pickering and Shows were forced to face off after Mississippi’s political boundaries were redrawn. The state lost one of its congressional districts when census figures showed that Mississippi’s population had grown at a slower rate than that of other states over the past decade.
The race for the newly drawn third congressional district is being watched across the country, and many poll watchers say it could be a major indicator of trends in the 2004 elections. Both parties have spent millions of dollars trying to woo voters in a district that stretches from Mississippi’s southwest corner to the Meridian and Starkville areas. Neither candidate looks like a clear winner, and both sides are preparing for the race to come down to the wire.
As for Senator Cochran, he is expected to win re-election .The Mississippi Democratic Party voted not to put up another candidate to face Cochran, after the party’s first candidate withdrew from the race after a controversial primary election.
Both congressional races include a handful of independent and third party candidates that are not expected to break single digit returns. In addition to the major congressional races, judgeships in districts across the state are up for a vote.
To register to vote, one must be at least 18 years of age by Nov. 5. Students have the option to register in their home counties and vote by absentee ballot, or they may choose to register in Oktibbeha County.
Registering to vote requires a simple, one-page form. Those forms can be found at the county circuit clerk’s office and various other government entities. Students my also register by using the mail-in form available on the Secretary of State’s Web site, http://www.sos.state.ms.us. Various MSU organizations will also conduct voter registration drives in the final days before the deadline.
When a registration form is properly received, the circuit clerk will send the new voter a registration card. That card shows that one is eligible to vote. Students may then vote in one of two ways: at the polling place on election day or by absentee ballot.
Students registered in their home counties who want to vote in person will have to drive home in order to cast their ballots. Whether here or at home, students must vote at their assigned polling place in that county. That information should accompany the voter registration card.
Students registered to vote in their home counties that can’t return on election day, can vote by absentee ballot. Those ballots can be filled out in the circuit clerk’s office before election day. Students simply need go to the circuit clerk’s office in the county in which they are registered, and request to vote absentee in the clerk’s office.
Absentee voting can also be done through the mail. That process requires two steps, however. Students must begin by contacting the circuit clerk in the county where they are registered. The clerk’s office will send application for an absentee ballot. That application should be filled out and mailed back to the clerk’s office.
Voters will then receive the absentee ballot. Ballots must be marked and returned to the circuit clerk before the date of the election.
Questions about voting can be easily answered by contacting the Secretary of State’s Office in Jackson at 601-359-6357 or 800-829-6786.
Students can also contact Oktibbeha County Circuit Clerk Angie McGinnis by calling 323-1356 or visiting her office in the county courthouse on Main Street in Starkville.