Halle Coleman
Staff Writer/ MC 301
With only 48 days until the next presidential election taking place Nov. 3, the race is on. With that being said, the window to gather the materials and submit mail-in ballots is quickly approaching.
This presidential race is the biggest article on the general election ballot. Voters will also elect a U.S. senator, U.S. representatives, as well as the new Mississippi state flag design as well.
Mississippi offers absentee ballots by mail to voters who are unable to vote in person. However, the state requires an excuse to vote by absentee ballot.
Voters can cast absentee ballots if they are 65 years old or older, have a temporary or permanent disability, are commissioned or enlisted members of the armed forces, are a Mississippi resident living outside the territorial U.S., are required to be at work while the polls are open, will be outside their county of residence on Election Day, or are a college student living outside their county of residence.
The state legislature recently added a new excuse. It states that anyone under physician-imposed quarantine or caring for a dependent under quarantine due to COVID-19 can vote by absentee ballot.
All other voters are expected to vote in person.
No written excuse is needed to be documented if you are voting absentee unless you have a permanent physical disability.
In that case, a doctor’s certificate must be filed with the clerk’s office and will be retained for future elections.
Absentee ballots must be voted in a circuit clerk’s office, or mailed from the office to the voter and mailed back to the clerk once completed. The state law prohibits the hand-delivery of ballots.
You can fill out your request for an absentee ballot and cast your vote in the same visit at the clerk’s office, and a person in the office who is authorized to administer oaths will serve as your witness. Your ballot is then privately placed in a sealed and secure envelope.
Mail-in absentee ballot applications and ballots must be cast in front of an official authorized to administer oaths, such as a notary public, then returned by mail to the clerk’s office. The ballots are entered into the voting system, then placed in a sealed ballot box.
Any person who is temporarily or permanently physically disabled, including those under COVID-19 quarantine, can have the absentee application and ballot witnessed by a person who is at least 18 years of age rather than by someone authorized to administer oaths.
There is no deadline to request an absentee ballot for November, but the Secretary of State’s office says voters should request absentee ballots and vote absentee as early as possible. United States Postal Service (USPS) suggests that absentee ballots should be requested at least two weeks before the election.
Da’Naeja Porter, a junior business management major from Magnolia, Miss., plans to vote by mail but feels unprepared.
“I definitely feel like there should be more information provided to college students about the vote by mail option. This is a very important election and the difference is a lot of things like healthcare, economics, and jobs. I feel like this election is going to make or break this country as we know it and everybody needs to be well informed,” Porter expressed.
The U.S. Postal Service recently sent detailed letters to 46 states and D.C. warning that it cannot guarantee all ballots cast by mail for the November election will arrive in time to be counted.
Glasia Walker, a junior chemistry major from Edgard, La. always votes by mail in her hometown, and has observed that the U.S. Postal Service may not be prepared for mail-in voting.
“With the pandemic, mail has been coming slower and slower and people have not been receiving their usual mail on time. So it makes you wonder if ballots will actually be received,” said Walker.
If planning to vote in person, all poll workers will be issued masks and are supposed to wear them. Hand sanitizer will be available for election officials and voters at all precincts. Each county will have individual safety procedures for sanitizing equipment as well, depending on what type of voting machines are used.
The deadline to register to vote is Oct. 5. If you haven’t, use this link to do so. It only takes two minutes. https://www.vote.org/register-to-vote/mississippi/
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