Ballots can be marked at Circuit Clerk office or sent by mail

By Jeremy Weldon

Absentee voting for the fall Democratic and Republican party primaries began in Panola County Monday. There are different procedures for casting an absentee ballot, depending on a voter’s individual situation and why they will be unable to vote at a regular polling precinct on the day of the scheduled election.

If  a person votes at the Circuit Clerk’s office, they will mark a paper ballot, put it in a designated envelope and leave with the deputy clerk who will deposit it in a sealed ballot box in the Clerk’s office.

For those who are out of town, or disabled, and request an absentee ballot by mail, they will be mailed their ballot. The voter completes the instructions for mailing back the application in one envelope and their ballot in the other envelope that is provided from the Circuit Clerk’s office.  These two envelopes must be mailed back to the Circuit Clerk’s office. Upon arrival the two envelopes are  deposited into a sealed ballot box.

On the Monday before the election, the deputy clerks will open the ballot box and divide the absentee ballot envelopes and the applications into precincts.  These ballots and applications will be sent out with other election supplies to the precincts for the Primary Election on  Tuesday, Aug. 6.

Only a person voting absentee at the Circuit Clerk’s office can give their ballot to the deputy clerks on duty. A citizen, requesting to vote  absentee by mail,  must mail his ballot to the circuit clerk’s office.

Voters who plan to cast ballots at their assigned precincts during the primaries or the general election on Nov. 4 will have an opportunity to see a demonstration of the new scanning machines that will be used to record and tabulate the marked paper ballots voters will be using for the first time in Panola County in decades.

The DS 200 Optical Scanner machines will be shown in use July 19 from noon to 6 p.m. at the Sardis Courthouse and from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on July 24 at the Batesville Courthouse.

The Circuit Clerk’s office has just received the official ballots for the August party primaries from the Secretary of State’s office. A sample ballot will be published in an upcoming edition of the newspaper.