[05/16/01] Advance voting for Vicksburg’s three municipal posts began this week with voters trickling in at City Hall to cast absentee ballots.

City Clerk Walter Osborne said that since the ballots became available Monday, 20 residents have voted in advance of the June 5 general election. The deadline to cast an absentee ballot for the general election is noon on June 2.

Mississippi law requires voters to be registered at least 30 days before an election. Once registered, any voter who will be out of town on election day, any who are 65 or older or those who are physically disabled may vote in advance or by mail.

Mailed absentee ballots must be received by the clerk’s office by 5 p.m. June 4.

Once cast, the absentee ballots are sealed and not counted until polls close on election day.

Certified totals from the May 1 primary elections show 6,229 voters cast ballots in advance or at the polls. In 1997, 5,722 ballots were cast in that year’s Democratic primary. There was no Republican primary four years ago.

The latest count from the City Clerk’s Office shows poll books listing 17,603 people eligible to vote in the municipal election.

In the general election, there are two ballots, one for the North Ward and one for the South Ward. Each ballot will have the names of all of the candidates for alderman in that ward and for mayor, regardless of party.

Mayoral candidates are incumbent Mayor Robert Walker, 57, who won the Democratic nomination in the May 1 primary, and independents Eva Marie Ford, 63, Laurence Leyens, 37, and former mayor Joe Loviza, 61.

In the North Ward, the names of two-term incumbent Gertrude Young, 45, who defeated two challengers in the Democratic primary, and independent Sylvester Walker, 40, will be on the ballot.

For the South Ward alderman’s seat, the names of the Republican primary winner, Sidney H. Beauman Jr., 52, and Democratic primary winner, Pam Johnson, 35, will appear on the ballot along with those of independents Vickie Bailey, 33, and Ashlea Mosley, 18.