If you have moved, married, or know someone who’s died in recentmemory, Lincoln County’s election commissioners are asking for yourhelp.

With August primaries for state and local elections looming,Lincoln County’s election officers are busy updating county voterrolls and hoping to ensure efficient, fair and accurateelections.

But they can’t do it alone.

“More than anything we want people to be aware of theirresponsibilities in helping us make our elections run as smoothlyas possible,” said District Four Commissioner Janie Sisco.

According to election commissioners, few people contact thecircuit clerk’s office after changes to their names or addresses.The result, they say, is confusion and inconvenience for voters andelection officials at the polls.

“If voters don’t correct their information, they will not beable to use the electronic voting equipment now available to us,”said Sisco.

“And that will make it difficult on everyone,” added DistrictTwo Election Commissioner Michael Byrne.

Typically, election commissioners are made aware of possiblediscrepancies when jury summonses are returned to the courthousedue to a “wrong address.”

If that happens, Sisco explained, a voter is moved to “inactive”status and barred from voting electronically.

Commissioners then make another effort to update the informationby sending a confirmation card seeking corrected data. If noconfirmation is thus received, then the voter could be purged fromvoter rolls, provided they have failed to vote in two federalelections.

“We are bound by law to create a paper trail, so we can’t removeanyone from an address or change any information without the properdocumentation, even if we know of the changes personally,” Siscoadded.

So, election commissioners are emphasizing the following forvoter consideration:

• If you live in Lincoln County, have made any changes to youraddress (including 911, rural route, or P.O. Box changes), maritalstatus, or know of someone’s death, contact the Circuit Clerk’soffice to inform them or request a voter change of informationcard.

• If you have moved outside Lincoln County, fill out theconfirmation cards (available at the Circuit Clerk’s office) andremove your name from registration books. Then contact your newelection officer to register to vote.

• If you receive a confirmation card in the mail, and fail toreturn it within 30 days, you may have to vote by affidavit ballot.If you do not vote before two general elections, your registrationwill be canceled.

• Please contact the Circuit Clerk’s office or the LincolnCounty Election Commission (601-835-3435) if you have anyquestions.

Commissioners, who spend several days a week updating voterinformation in their government complex office, said they are oftenperplexed by public attitudes toward accurate votinginformation.

“I knew someone who was made inactive and was made to vote bypaper ballot, complained they couldn’t vote electronically, butnever updated their information; so, they continue to miss out,”District Five Commissioner Marsha Warren said. “I just couldn’tunderstand that.”

District Three Commissioner Barbara Davis, serving her firstterm, said she has been inspired by how important ordering voterinformation is for making elections run smoothly.

“I’ve appreciated this work because it keeps elections fair,”she said. “And it’s specific. Even if you have moved two doorsdown, you may have changed your voting precinct or district.”

Commissioners agreed that voter information today is much moreaccurate than it has been in the past.

“In the two years I’ve been here, the work has improvedsubstantially, especially now that we have been connected to thestatewide electronic management system. And we went from workingoff of one computer to five computers,” said Sisco.

Sisco was also thankful for county support in the commissioners’efforts.

“We have really appreciated our supervisors for enabling us todo our jobs more effectively,” she said.

July 2 is the last day to register to vote for the Augustprimaries.