Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann recommended to Gov. Haley Barbour today during a meeting of the state Election Commission that the special election between Musgrove, a Democrat, and Wicker, a Republican, be placed at the end of the ballot.
Barbour approved the recommendation.
Barbour, Hood and Hosemann make up the state Election Commission, but by law, Hood doesn’t have a vote on the sample ballot.
Hood had recommended that the race between Musgrove and Wicker be placed on the ballot under the presidential election. The other U.S. Senate race between longtime incumbent Thad Cochran, a Republican, and challenger Erik Fleming, a Democrat, will be on the ballot below the presidential election.
“It’s one of the most important races,” Hood said. “If you put it down below school board races, a lot of people will miss it.”
But Hosemann said special elections have traditionally been placed at the bottom of the ballot to delineate them from regular elections.
Hosemann said the way the approved sample ballot is prepared voters will have to go past it three times prior to actually casting their ballot in 79 of the state’s 82 counties. The other three counties use a scanning system to cast votes, he said.
Clarion Ledger
9/9/8
H/T Just Me
Magnolia Tribune
