Voters will choose candidates in 2 runoffs

Published 12:00 am Monday, November 18, 2002

[11/17/02]Warren County voters will return to the polls Tuesday to choose between two men in two races, for Warren County and Youth Court judge and Central District constable.

The runoffs were necessary after the general election two weeks ago, on Nov. 5, failed to produce a majority victor in either of the races.

Both races had clear front-runners who nearly missed gaining the majorities that would have allowed them to avoid runoffs.

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The leader in what was a five-candidate race for Warren County Court and Youth Court judge was Warren County Prosecutor Johnny Price, 56, who received 48.8 percent of the vote. Robert C. Arledge, 45, finished second with 16.3 percent to also make the runoff.

In the formerly six-candidate special election for Central District constable, interim appointee and veteran Vicksburg Police officer Rudolph Walker, 49, received 49.1 percent. David Garland Atwood II, 19, finished second with 19.2 percent.

A few problems were reported in the casting of ballots Nov. 5, but Election Commission chairman James McMullin said no changes may now be made to voter rolls until after Tuesday’s runoff.

On Nov. 5, some registered voters reportedly went to what they believed were their correct polling places to vote Nov. 5 and found their names did not appear. Also reported was some difficulty in trying to find polling places, both physically and in printed election returns, that have moved since they were named yet have retained their old names.

Voters may call the election commission or the circuit clerk’s office to confirm their correct precincts and locations, election commission chairman James McMullin said.

Randy Sherard, attorney for the Warren County Board of Supervisors, said polling places that have retained their old names despite moving in the past 11 years are:

Culkin Sherman Avenue Elementary School, 2145 Sherman Ave.

3-61 Store International Paper Company, Mississippi 3 North

Jett Carpenters Local 303, 4589 U.S. 61 South

Beechwood Calvary Baptist Church, 999 Old Highway 27

Tingleville Clover Valley M.B. Church, 7670 Mississippi 27

The board of supervisors, with the required submittal to the U.S. Department of Justice of its redistricting proposals for the county’s three- and five-district voting maps following the 2000 census it plans to make early next year, is requesting no changes in precinct names or locations, Sherard said.

Registered voters who go to vote at the polling places for their precincts and have not moved have a right to cast ballots, Secretary of State Eric Clark said in a press release.

“If your name has been removed or purged from the poll book by mistake, you should request an affidavit ballot,” Clark said. “That ballot will be counted, and your name will be restored to the voter rolls.

“If you have moved to a new address within the county, you must vote at the polling place where you now live. You may not vote at the old polling place for the precinct where you no longer live. At your new polling place, you should request an affidavit ballot. That ballot will be counted, and your name should be restored to the voter rolls with your new address. An affidavit ballot cast where you no longer live is not valid and will not be counted.”

Election commissioners spent much of the first three months of this year trying to correct inaccuracies in voter rolls and notify voters, and they plan to do the same again next year, McMullin said. But with 32,000 voters, and as often as people move, it’s practically impossible for the books to ever be made 100 percent accurate, he said. Voters can help by calling to report address changes immediately, he said.

“I was disappointed that we had as many as we had,” he said of the number of affidavit ballots cast this year. He said he did not know how many such ballots were cast this year or in the previous election, but that this year’s number was lower and the problem was improving, benefited by new technology among other factors.