NATCHEZ &045; Beverly Merrill, secretary of the Adams County Democratic Committee, had to take a second look at voter turnout numbers after Tuesday’s primaries.

Granted, she and other election officials were quite tired after a long day’s work. But even a well-rested person would do a double take when she saw an 83 percent turnout among Democrats.

&uot;That explains why I ran out of ballots,&uot; Merrill said, adding that she planned for a Democratic turnout of about 60 percent.

&uot;I’ve been here nine years, and that’s the highest I’ve seen,&uot; Merrill said, checking the numbers again. &uot;It’s the local races.&uot;

With a variety of hotly contested races on the ballot Tuesday &045; with multiple candidates vying for the Democratic nomination in several offices &045; that might very well be the case.

But Pat Dickens, chairwoman of the Adams County Republican Committee, said Tuesday’s overall turnout of about 60 percent was nothing to scoff at, either.

&uot;That’s higher than the statewide turnout was expected to be,&uot; Dickens said.

M.L. &uot;Binkey&uot; Vines &045; who, as circuit clerk, serves as registrar of voters for Adams County &045; said that turnout is a little less than that of 1999’s primary elections.

&uot;People are so concerned about jobs &045; about losing their own jobs&uot; that many are not thinking about elections now, and that was reflected at the polls, Vines said.

Still, he said, while &uot;it was slow in the morning (at the polls), it picked up in the afternoon.&uot;

Not all went smoothly on election day, however.

Ballots ran out at several polling places, including the airport precinct, as the day wore on, forcing election officials and sheriff’s personnel to rush more ballots to those locations.

There were also some complaints regarding parking at the Natchez Ford-Lincoln-Mercury polling place on Seargent S. Prentiss Drive.

That was the first time the business had been used for an election.