Natchez residents vote in city primary election today

Published 12:03 am Tuesday, May 10, 2016

NATCHEZ — The chairman of the Adams County Election Commission said he doesn’t anticipate any significant post-redistricting problems with voters finding where to cast ballots in today’s Natchez city primary election.

The board of aldermen adopted new city ward lines in November when faced with a redistricting lawsuit that contended the then-current lines diluted minority votes, and today’s election is the first in which those new lines are in effect.

Election Commission Chair Larry Gardner said that after the wards were redrawn, the election commission mailed out new voter registration cards to every voter in the city.

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“We sent out over 10,000 new voter registration cards pointing out what ward they vote in,” Gardner said. “We found that a lot of people had moved around and not notified us of that address, but we remailed those once we got the correct address.”

Candidates have also campaigned heavily in the races, Gardner said, and since “they have been proactive in getting out there, I think that has been helpful” about informing voters what ward they are in after redistricting.

While in two instances the voting precincts are new for city elections, the Christian Hope Missionary Baptist Church and Crosspoint Church precincts were specifically chosen for their wards because they have been used in county-level and federal elections before, Gardner said.

“We chose those because people would be familiar,” he said. “It’s not like it’s a new spot.”

The new voting precincts are:

4For Ward 1, the City Council Chambers at 115 Pearl St.

4For Ward 2, Frazier Elementary School at 1445 George F. West Blvd.

4For Ward 3, Crosspoint Church at 285 Highland Blvd.

4For Ward 4, Christian Hope Missionary Baptist Church at 301 LaSalle St.

4For Ward 5, Mississippi National Guard Armory at 329 Liberty Road.

4For Ward 6, the Duncan Park Canteen at 57 Duncan Park Road.

Any voters who may have questions about where to vote should contact the city clerk’s office at 601-445-7501 or the election commission at 601-445-7905.

“We want people to get out the vote,” Gardner said. “Voter turnout is usually very poor, but we are hoping we have enough candidates and races that it will help turn out the vote (today).”

On the ballot are races for aldermen, mayor and city court judge.

While today’s vote is the Democratic primary, the only election that will advance to the general election June 7 will be the mayor’s race, in which Ernest “Tony” Fields or Darryl Grennell will face independent challenger Eric Junkin.

If a run-off is needed for any of the aldermen’s races, it will be May 24.