Video: Preparing For City Elections

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STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI) – When many of us go to the polls in our city primaries next week, we won’t think much about what all went in to making sure those elections run as smoothly as possible. But a lot of people have been working behind the scenes for weeks to get ready. And things have really been busy this week and will continue that way through next week.

With city elections just a few days away, city clerks have been working on getting everyone on the same page. And in a normal year, that means a lot of work. But with this year being the first under new voting districts required by the 20-10 Census, it means even more work and expense. In Starkville, officials have budgeted 40 thousand dollars to cover the costs.

“It’s been a very busy preparation time not to mention our city was redistricted at the end of 2012 so a large percentage of our population is voting in a different ward this time than they voted in previously,” said city clerk Taylor Adams.

New voter cards have gone out to everyone that was effected in the redistricting. Most other towns have had to do similar mailings and advertisements. Also, clerks, deputy clerks and election commissioners also have to be certified.

“We had to appoint our poll workers; we trained all of them this past Tuesday. We’ve done testing of all the machines that we use in this election with the county and the third party provider that we contract with to be on site for technical support on the day of the election,” added Adams.

It’s Adams first time running an election. He says there’s been a good turn out with absentee voting so far. And he’s gotten an insider’s perspective on the value of elections.

“I have been awed I guess by the responsibility that comes with running an election and I am impressed with how involved and how energized our citizens seem to be about the process,” said Adams.

Officials hope that come election day Tuesday, everything goes smoothly.  The winners of the primaries and elections involving Independent candidates are June 4th.

 

Categories: Local News

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