County sees very few issues with voter ID

DAILY LEADER / KATIE WILLIAMSON / Dustin Bairfield, Lincoln County Circuit Clerk feeds absentee ballots into the vote scanner for counting Tuesday night at the Lincoln County-Brookhaven Government Complex Tuesday night

DAILY LEADER / KATIE WILLIAMSON / Dustin Bairfield, Lincoln County Circuit Clerk feeds absentee ballots into the vote scanner for counting Tuesday night at the Lincoln County-Brookhaven Government Complex Tuesday night

For the first time in Mississippi history, voter identification was required to vote.

Circuit Clerk Dustin Bairfield said his staff saw minimum issues with the new law during Tuesday’s voting. Twenty-two people did not have any identification when they came to vote. Their ballots will be held for five business days, allowing those voters to bring an approved form of identification or apply for the free voter ID card.

Bairfield said the election went very smoothly from a logistical standpoint.

“I feel very fortunate to have very good poll workers,” he said.

Bairfield said the only complaint he had was that someone had put up a campaign sign in front of one of the voting precincts during the day, which he promptly removed.

Results aside, Tuesday’s primary election brought about opposite reactions from the Lincoln County Democratic and Republican parties.

Helen Funk, chair of the Democratic Party in Lincoln County, was less than impressed by the voting Tuesday.

“It went terrible,” she said. “The people just didn’t turn out.”

However, she did say the poll workers did an excellent job and were well prepared.

What the Democratic Party lacked in voters, the Republican Party made up for.

“I’m just so proud that so many people are voting Republican,” John Roberts, chair of the Republican Party in Lincoln County, said.

Roberts said there have been a lot of people switching to the Republican Party, and he believes 2015 looks very promising.

A run-off for the Senate Republican primary, as appears likely, will be held June 24. For more information about voting, contact the circuit clerk’s office at 601-835-3435.

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