Weather could play a major part in Tuesday”s Circuit Court District 16 judicial runoff election.
Circuit clerks in Lowndes, Clay and Oktibbeha Counties predict a forecasted 60-percent chance of rain Tuesday will keep many voters from the polls.
“If the weather is as bad as they say then we”re probably going to have a smaller (turnout),” said Oktibbeha Circuit Clerk Angie McGinnis.
Absentee voting has been strong for the runoff. Lowndes Circuit Clerk Haley Salazar reports 500 absentee ballots had been received as of Monday morning, which is better than usual for a runoff. Oktibbeha County had received 220 as of Saturday.
In addition to rain, the election falling so close to Thanksgiving may further lower the number of voters due to holiday travels.
McGinnis expects turnout to drop from the 45 percent of voters who participated in the Nov. 2 election to around 25 percent. Clay County Circuit Clerk Bob Harrell cut the number of voting machines to be used in the runoff from 59 to 39.
He doesn”t expect fewer machines to cause waits at the precincts because fewer names on the ballot will speed the voting process.
Clay County attorneys Lee Coleman and Nebra Porter will face off for the newly created District 16, Place 3 judgeship.
Coleman is received 39.5 percent of the vote on Nov. 2, ahead of Porter, who earned 31.6 percent.
Bob Marshall, who took 28.8 percent of the vote, was eliminated from the race.
District 16 includes Lowndes, Oktibbeha, Clay and Noxubee Counties.
Jason Browne was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
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