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NATCHEZ — Voters who voted at the Crosspoint church precinct in Natchez municipal elections in 2020 will want to pay attention to this.

After redistricting, a precinct change was needed for Natchez municipal elections.

The Natchez Board of Aldermen unanimously approved a precinct change for voters in Ward 3, which moves their polling location from Crosspoint Church to Cornerstone Church, located at the former Trinity Episcopal School at 321 U.S. 61 North.

The Rev. Danny Reed, pastor of Cornerstone, welcomed the change that allows the church to serve the community in a new capacity just as it has with allowing a charter school and thrift store to be operating out of the facility.

“Thank you for trusting Cornerstone Church with the opportunity to serve the City of Natchez,” Reed said. “We are grateful for the opportunity to serve the people of our community in this way. Our desire is to be a church that serves the spiritual and physical needs of the City of Natchez and this is another way to fulfill that calling.”

Natchez Mayor Dan Gibson thanked Reed for allowing the change to be approved quickly because of municipal elections being held on April 2.

“We redistricted our ward lines and it became apparent recently that we had a voting precinct that was no longer in the ward,” Gibson said. “Voting precincts need to be in the ward that they serve.”

The change to Ward 3 precinct is only for municipal elections and is not the same in county elections, Gibson added.

“We are so very grateful to Pastor Reed and the congregation of Cornerstone Church for making their facility available to the City of Natchez for this important purpose,” he said.

A motion to approve the new precinct passed unanimously.

Voters of Ward 3 will also receive letters from the election commissioners’ office notifying them of the change.

Election dates for the City of Natchez differ from municipalities operating under the Mississippi Code Charter, because Natchez has a special charter, City Attorney Bryan Callaway said.

Section 7 of the Charter sets the General Election date at “the first Tuesday after the first Monday in June” every four years.

State statute fixes the first primary election date of municipalities operating under a special or private charter “on the first Tuesday, two (2) months before the time for holding the general election …. and the second primary election, where necessary, shall be held three (3) weeks after the first primary election unless the charter of any such municipality provides otherwise.”

This sets the first primary election on April 2, and the primary runoff, if required, on April 23, and the general election on June 4.

All city alderman positions are up for grabs.

Qualifying ends at 5 p.m. on Feb 2.