Ballot shortages not a major issue this election, but low voter turnout is

Voters did not show up to the polls. That was the message statewide and throughout the Jackson area during Tuesday's Primary Election Day, at least as of late afternoon.

Not that it wasn't expected as most primary elections see far fewer voters show up to the polls than general elections. Also, there's the fact that nationally there seems to be some apathy for the primary and lack of enthusiasm for both presidential candidates: President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump.

Throughout the area, poll managers and workers told the Clarion Ledger voter turnout was sparse.

For example, the Word of Life Church, a precinct in Flowood, has 3,399 registered voters. Poll Manager Claudine Blakey said only 110 voters had cast a ballot by 11:30 a.m.

"Last year during the Governor's election, we had 110 by 7:30 a.m. So, it has been extremely slow," Blakey said.

Kyle Kirkpatrick, Assistant Secretary of State for Elections, confirmed low voter turnout was a Mississippi issue Tuesday.

Kirkpatrick reported that no voter irregularities or instances of voter suppression had been reported to his office, though he did say he heard unconfirmed reports of some precincts in Hinds County not having Republican ballots.

"But we haven't been able to confirm that and haven't heard anything on the issue in quite a while," Kirkpatrick said, adding he heard about the Republican ballot reports in the mid-morning.

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Ballot shortages? Not an issue

On a more positive note, it seems Hinds County was able to avoid the ballot shortage fiasco that occurred during last year's November elections. While Kirkpatrick said he had heard unconfirmed reports of some Hinds County precincts not having Republican ballots, all of the precincts the Clarion Ledger spoke with said ballot shortages were not an issue.

The shortages resulted in voting delays and long lines for at least nine polling precincts last November. Some voters weren't able to vote at all, even with a judge signing off on an order that extended voting hours for one hour.

Last November, Hinds County election officials said the shortages were due to a mix-up in ordering the correct ballots at split precincts, which can have up to four or five different styles of ballots. They also blamed a lack of training on how to order the correct style of ballot from the Mississippi Secretary of State's office.

At Belmont Missionary Baptist Church in Raymond on Tuesday, a split precinct, poll manager Justin Cook, a resident of Clinton, said everything was running smoothly. Cook said more ballots were currently en route to the precinct as he spoke.

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"They're not going to let us have an issue with ballot shortages this time," Cook said. "After last time? That's not going to happen."

Cook's precinct was unlike many others, he said, with an "abnormally high voter turnout for a primary election."

About 150 ballots in each district, 300 total, had been cast by noon on Tuesday, Cook said.

"For a general election that would be about right, but for a primary it feels like it's a lot more than usual," said Cook, who has been a poll manager in Mississippi since 2008 and lost his bid for a seat on the Hinds County Election Commission in District 4 last year.

Hinds County Republican and Democratic Party Chairs weigh in

Primary elections are run by state party executive committees, according to the Mississippi Secretary of State’s County Election Handbook. The party executive committees are in-charge of setting the ballots for their respective elections.

Their was a quick panic in February when the Hinds County Election Commissioners voted to "opt-out" of helping the party's with the primary elections. The decision was made three months after the election commissioners were criticized for the ballot shortages during the November general election.

Election Commissioners said their job is only to be in-charge of running general elections, special elections and run-offs. District 4 Commissioner Yvonne Horton also said she didn't want to "start another argument with one of the parties."

But a week later, the commissioners rescinded their vote, deciding they'd help with primaries after all.

Speaking in a phone interview Tuesday afternoon, Spencer Ritchie, Chair of the Hinds County Republican Party Executive Committee, had nothing but praise for the commissioners this go-around.

"I'll speak highly of them. I think they've done a good job working with the parties this primary election," Ritchie said. "The primary elections are conducted by the parties, but the parties obviously need the assistance of the election commissioners because the county owns all the voting equipment."

Ritchie said there were no concerns about ballot shortages on the Republican side.

Jacqueline Amos, Chair of the Hinds County Democratic Party Executive Committee, said worrying about ballot shortages was nothing compared to her worries about how low the voter turn out. Amos said her party ordered nearly 55,000 Democratic ballots for the primaries.

"The last thing we're worried about is a ballot shortage. What troubles me the most is the lack of turnout, that is disappointing," Amos said. "But I'm honest pretty confident that this coming November is going to be different than last November as far as ballot issues."

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"Today we got the ballots, but people aren't going to the polls," Amos added. "So, we got a lot of work to do."

Ritchie whistled a similar tune to Amos, but said he thought there was more voter turnout than he expected.

"The turnout has been a little higher than I thought it would be. Compared to other presidential primary election years it's still pretty low, but more than I thought," Ritchie said.

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Mississippi primary elections plagued by low voter turnout