HERNANDO, Miss. — People who voted Tuesday in DeSoto County said the runoff election is important despite a low voter turnout.
“That’s really not good,” Sissie Ferguson of the DeSoto County Election Commission said.
Election commissioners expected more people to stay at home than head out to the polls.
“I guess they don’t think they can make a change. And if there’s a bunch of those people, they won’t make a change,” Josh Belenchia, who voted in Hernando, said.
Voters said the Republican primary runoff election was a big deal because people voted on decision-making positions such as the District 5 supervisor and superintendent.
“That’s a big one to a lot of us parents,” Brandie Correro said about the superintendent position.
The election is like a new beginning for Correro, who chose to home-school her children after butting heads with current district leaders.
“A lot of us have, for a long time, been trying to get things done,” Correro said. “So it’s important for us to have a say from this point forward. Here’s going to be a clean slate.”
“You need someone that has been in it and knows what’s going on and is invested in it,” Belenchia said.
A few voters reported issued at the polls, such as problems signing in on the new poll books at one location that we know of.
“This is a basic thing that we need to be able to do,” Correro said. “There should be a backup on hand.”
“It’s very strange that all of them go down at the same time,” Ferguson told WREG. “That is probably an electrical problem there — it was definitely not a poll book problem. But they got them right back up. It didn’t take long.”
Otherwise, things ran smoothly on election day.
There were runoffs in other DeSoto County districts for a constable, justice court judge and a state house seat.
The polls closed at 7 p.m.
