Mid-Morning primary election update

Mid-Morning Party Primary Election Update

Jackson, MS— The August 2, 2011 Party Primary Election is today (Tuesday, August 02, 2011).  These elections are conducted by the respective parties.  As of the time of this release, our Agency has been notified of the following issues statewide regarding the opening of the Party Primary Election:

·         Voting machines not providing the proper ballot. 

o   Lincoln County:  Some precincts experienced issues with their voting cards.  Our Agency has been in contact with the local Circuit Clerk’s Office.  To our knowledge, emergency, or paper, ballots are available.

o   Hinds County: 

§  Experienced issues at the Wynndale Precinct with their voting machines not providing the proper Primary ballot.  The Secretary of State’s Office has been in contact with the local election commission to resolve those issues.  Hinds County does not utilize the same statewide voting system as does 78 other counties across the State.  It is our understanding that Hinds County contacted their voting system technicians to have those issues resolved.  Again, to our knowledge, voters who experienced issues with voting machines in Hinds County were given emergency ballots to cast their vote.

§  Marshall School Precinct:  The Republican precinct did not open on time.

§  Edwards Precinct:  The Republican Primary ballot did not appear on the voting machine when the access card was inserted into the machine.

o   Madison County:  Voting machines at the Twin Lakes precinct were not working.  Some voters were able to cast an emergency, or paper, ballot.  However, the precinct did run out of emergency ballots and some voters were temporarily unable to cast a ballot.  Additional emergency ballots were deployed by the county to the Twin Lakes precinct.  A voting machine technician was able to remedy the problem and as of approximately 9:50 am, the voting machines were working.

·         Polls not opening on time.  According to State law, polling locations are required to be open from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm.  The Secretary of State’s Office was notified of several precincts across the State may not have opened on time.  Our Agency has been in contact with Circuit Clerks in those counties to ensure the precincts were opened, or were in the process of opening.

To report an elections issue, or if you have an elections related question, we urge you to contact your local Circuit Clerk.  Or you may contact the Secretary of State’s Elections Hotline at 1 (800) 829-6786.