Record turnout reported for primary

Denise Strub
BC Managing Editor    Bolivar Co MS
Published August 08, 2007 2:55 PM CDT

Runoffs set for Aug. 28 Poll workers, candidates and interested citizens roamed the halls of the Bolivar County Courthouse until well after midnight today.
All were awaiting tallies from Tuesday’s primary elections.
Unofficial results were long in coming as workers had problems extracting totals from the new touch-screen voting machines and volunteers had long lines of voters at the polls waiting to cast their ballots.
The ballot box from Shaw did not arrive at the courthouse until 10 p.m. and the ballot box from Shelby did not come in until about 10:45 p.m.
One poll worker from the precinct at the Cleveland No. 2 Fire Station on Martin Luther King Drive said there were a lot of people in the building when the polls closed at 7 p.m.
“Everyone inside got to vote. We didn’t shut down until about 8:20 p.m.,” said the worker who wished to remain anonymous.
“It was a steady stream of voters. More than usual,” she added.
However, Bishop C.L. Sparks, while waiting for the Cleveland Board of Aldermen to come out of executive session Tuesday, said he was concerned many black voters may not vote because they would be torn between candidates.
“There are more black candidates this time,” he said.
An anonymous poll worker from Mound Bayou said her precinct was full all day. “I didn’t think it would be so busy,” she said.
Both volunteers said there were problems in the morning setting up the new Diebold touch-screen voting machines.
“Mainly it was because I was the only one who would touch the machines,” said the volunteer from Cleveland.
“It was the same way in Mound Bayou,” said the other volunteer, who added when paper went out in one machine, it seemed to go out in all of them causing delays.
The Cleveland volunteer said many trainings were offered to poll workers and she had gone to several. “I wanted to make sure I knew what I was doing.”
The Mound Bayou volunteer said she was concerned that others could see how votes were being cast, “but that’s how they set up the machines.”
Both volunteers said another thing that caused delays was the closing down of the machines. Three copies (of tallies) had to be made from each machine and then all the poll workers had to sign each copy.
“That took time,” they both said.
Dan McQuagge, Bolivar County Democratic Party chairman, said he was well pleased with the way the election was conducted on Tuesday.
“We had a record turnout. Nothing major happened,” he said, adding overall things went smoothly.
McQuagge said there were some computer problems when it came to counting the votes at the courthouse.
“There were some changes that had to be made last minute to the computer program that counts the votes but once we got started there were no problems,” he said.
“I think things went amazingly well, all things considered,” said Hilda Povall, Bolivar County Republican Party chairman.
She said the poll workers should be commended. “They try so hard to do the right thing. They should get gold medals.”
Betty Taylor won the Justice Court Judge District 3 slot with 80.52 percent of the votes over Lena Mckinzie-Jenkins with 14.92 percent.
District 1 Constable Samuel Toliver Sr. was re-elected by a landslide against Harry T. Weathersby with 85.04 percent of the votes.
Incumbent Joe Lee Bassie retained his position as constable of district 3 with a win of 74.33 percent of the votes over Nikita Johnson with 25.67 percent.
District 3 Supervisor Andrew Williams will keep his position as he won 53.24 percent of the votes beating Carey G. Estes, 23.17 percent, and Marvin K. Johnson 23.59 percent.
District 2 Supervisor Donny Whitten won the Republican ticket unopposed, but will face off with Democratic John Paul Gates in November. Gates beat Mike McCain with 67.35 percent of the votes.
District 4 Supervisor James McBride ran unopposed as did Tax Assessor and Collector Nancy J. Havens, Justice Court Judge District 1 Harold Ward.
Incumbent James Strait will continue as Justice Court Judge for district 2 after winning 66.20 percent of the votes over JoDonna Watson with 33.80 percent.
District Attorney District 11 Incumbent Laurence Mellen with 8,958 votes beat Darnell Felton’s 8,408 votes in Bolivar, Coahoma, Quitman and Tunica counties.
Incumbent Sheriff H.M. “Mack” Grimmett will remain in his post with 51.67 percent to beat out David James with 30.17 percent and Tony P. Harris with 18.16 percent.
Marilyn Kelly will take over as circuit clerk in January with a 59.74 percent win over Incumbent Rosie S. Simmons with 40.25 percent of the votes.
Brenett Hayneswon the Democratic ticket with 74.91 percent of the votes over Maurice Smith with 25.09 percent of the votes. Haynes will run against Mae Rosie Williams-Johnson in November for CHancery Clerk.
According to the circuit clerk’s office there will be run-offs on Aug. 28 in three elections:
• Coroner’s office between Ted Ray with 45.73 percent and Dr. Nate Brown with 45.48 percent of the votes.
• Supervisor District 3 between Richard Coleman with 43.86 percent and Preston Billings with 39.19 of the votes.
• Supervisor District 5 between Pete Roncali with 44.07 percent and Larry L. King with 25.44.