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SOS Delbert Hosemann’s office...

SOS Delbert Hosemann’s office keeping a watchful eye on absentee balloting

By: Magnolia Tribune - November 4, 2011

After the 2011 August Primary, the Secretary of State’s Office noted an unusually high number of absentee ballots cast in the election.

“Absentee balloting seems to be increasing in Mississippi,” says Secretary Hosemann. “Examining the number of absentee ballots cast in the State and the reasons in which those votes were cast allows the Legislature to monitor the election system in Mississippi.”

“What we are seeing is Mississippi already has a form of early voting by way of absentee balloting,” says Secretary Hosemann. “The majority of voters who cast an absentee ballot claimed they were going to be out of the county on election day, were temporarily or permanently disabled, or over the age 65.”

Currently, the 2011 General Election absentee ballot totals statewide are as follows: (Counties denoted with an asterisk have not entered their absentee ballot totals in the Statewide Election Management System.)

NAME BALLOTS_SENT BALLOTS_RECEIVED % RECEIVED
Adams 585 469 80.17%
Alcorn 594 417 70.20%
Amite 147 270 183.67%
Attala 255 184 72.16%
Benton 358 350 97.77%
Bolivar 114 1 0.88%
Calhoun 456 378 82.89%
Carroll 257 212 82.49%
Chickasaw 395 299 75.70%
Choctaw 136 106 77.94%
Claiborne 558 436 78.14%
Clarke 488 355 72.75%
Clay 443 359 81.04%
Coahoma 53 122 230.19%
Copiah 310 246 79.35%
Covington 697 602 86.37%
DeSoto 630 529 83.97%
Forrest 698 462 66.19%
Franklin 222 176 79.28%
George 301 241 80.07%
Greene 415 330 79.52%
Grenada 710 574 80.85%
Hancock 531 461 86.82%
Harrison 1100 834 75.82%
Hinds 740 711 96.08%
Holmes 538 402 74.72%
Humphreys 166 0 0.00%
Issaquena 2 16 800.00%
Itawamba 203 145 71.43%
Jackson 4 2 50.00%
Jasper 201 462 229.85%
Jeff Davis 270 222 82.22%
Jefferson 245 242 98.78%
Jones* 0 0 0%
Kemper 501 536 106.99%
Lafayette 610 475 77.87%
Lamar 525 493 93.90%
Lauderdale 1170 1167 99.74%
Lawrence 279 302 108.24%
Leake 276 183 66.30%
Lee 662 518 78.25%
Leflore 680 462 67.94%
Lincoln 634 484 76.34%
Lowndes 933 807 86.50%
Madison 739 674 91.20%
Marion 718 614 85.52%
Marshall 318 243 76.42%
Monroe 490 361 73.67%
Montgomery 369 247 66.94%
Neshoba 50 0 0.00%
Newton 206 168 81.55%
Noxubee 627 217 34.61%
Oktibbeha 559 469 83.90%
Panola 1081 867 80.20%
Pearl River 716 527 73.60%
Perry 292 239 81.85%
Pike 424 333 78.54%
Pontotoc 569 464 81.55%
Prentiss 317 238 75.08%
Quitman 188 188 100.00%
Rankin 944 842 89.19%
Scott 194 136 70.10%
Sharkey 83 144 173.49%
Simpson 224 0 0.00%
Smith 309 68 22.01%
Stone 315 237 75.24%
Sunflower 100 18 18.00%
Tallahatchie 198 141 71.21%
Tate 252 164 65.08%
Tippah 332 108 32.53%
Tishomingo 224 192 85.71%
Tunica 367 337 91.83%
Union 465 364 78.28%
Walthall 310 258 83.23%
Warren* 0 0 0%
Washington 389 290 74.55%
Wayne 0 0 0%
Webster 167 140 83.83%
Wilkinson 177 112 63.28%
Winston 675 596 88.30%
Yalobusha 92 124 134.78%
Yazoo 338 271 80.18%
TOTAL 32,910 26,433

According to State law, the following categories of registered voters are eligible to cast an absentee ballot:
• Members of the Armed Forces or their spouses and/or dependents;
• Members of the Merchant Marines or the American Red Cross, or their spouses and/or dependents;
• Disabled war veterans who are patients in any hospital, or their spouses and/or dependents;
• Civilians attached to any branch of the Armed Forces, the Merchant Marines, or the American Red Cross and serving outside of the United State, or their spouses and/or dependents;
• Persons temporarily residing outside the territorial limits of the United States and the District of Columbia;
• Students, teachers, or administrators whose employment or studies necessitate their absence from their county of voting residence, or their dependent or spouse who maintains a common domicile outside the county of voting residence;
• Persons who will be outside of their county of residence on election day;
• Persons required to be at work on election day during the times at which the polls will be open;
• Persons temporarily or permanently physically disabled;
• Persons sixty-five (65) years of age or older;
• Parents, spouses or dependents of persons having a temporary or permanent physical disability who are hospitalized outside their county of residence or more than fifty (50) miles away from their residence if the parents, spouses, and/or dependents will be with such persons on election day;
• Members of the Mississippi Congressional delegation, or their spouses and/or dependents.

Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann Press Release
11/4/11

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Magnolia Tribune

This article was produced by Magnolia Tribune staff.