The State Board of Election Commissioners qualified three candidates for the Mississippi House of Representatives District 38 special election earlier this week.
Absentee voting begins today for the race, as well as for special elections for Oktibbeha County circuit and chancery clerks, District 1 constable and a county-wide referendum to determine whether supervisors should press on with a possible sale of OCH Regional Medical Center.
Election day for all the ballot measures is Nov. 7.
Commissioners qualified Narrissa Dawn Bradford, Cheikh A. Taylor and Lisa Wynn for the non-partisan District 38 special election. The three candidates are vying to fill former Rep. Tyrone Ellis’ (D-Starkville) seat in the House. Ellis, 71 and also a church pastor, announced his retirement at the end of June, saying looked forward to spending more time with his family, six grandchildren and his Noxubee County congregation.
Whichever candidate wins Ellis’ seat will serve the remainder of his term, which expires in 2020.
District 38 is composed of portions of Clay, Lowndes and Oktibbeha counties.
Every candidate is a Starkville resident.
Bradford is a former fashion model-turned-entrepreneur, media executive and activist.
Taylor is the executive director of the Brickfire Project, a child-centered organization that includes a day care and after-school programs.
Wynn, the first candidate to announce her intent to run for the election, served as Starkville’s Ward 2 Alderman from 2013-17, before former alderman Sandra Sistrunk unseated her in June’s municipal election.
Election preparation
The special election candidate certifications were the last piece needed for Oktibbeha County to move ahead in preparing a sample ballot for the packed November election slate.
Angie McGinnis, who is serving as interim circuit clerk until November’s election, said her office has prepared a sample ballot for November’s election and is waiting on approval from the Secretary of State’s office.
In the meantime, her office is preparing voting machines for the election and working to get absentee ballots prepared as quickly as possible. Even though the absentee ballots aren’t readily available, McGinnis said her office would accommodate in-person absentee voters beginning today.
“If someone just had to vote, like if they were going out of the country, then I could print one from the election management system and let them vote (today),” she said. “The resolution committee could then transfer the vote from the paper ballot to a machine ballot to be counted.”
The resolution committee is made up of three county citizens who aren’t otherwise involved in the election. McGinnis said they handle issues such as transferring paper ballots to machines, or trying to determine voter’s intent if, for example, an absentee ballot had a dot mark by one candidate’s name and a fully circled-in mark by another candidate’s name.
“We’re hoping that doesn’t happen,” McGinnis said. “We’re hoping that with us starting on this (Thursday) we’ll have (absentee ballots) in in a little over a week.”
Alex Holloway was formerly a reporter with The Dispatch.
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