While some counties in Mississippi already have its Election Day ballots ready for distribution, Washington County, among others, had to wait just a bit longer.
Ballot printing was halted at Lawrence Printing Company of Greenwood as a result of concerns regarding the language of Initiative Measure 65, per the Mississippi Secretary of State’s Office (MSOS).
The Washington County Board of Supervisors were made aware of the matter during their Monday meeting.
According to District 1 Election Commissioner Jacqueline Thompson, other counties are in a similar predicament, but the election commission anticipates the delay won’t be very significant.
The election commission sent their request for ballots into the MSOS office Sept. 14.
“We can’t do anything until after the last candidate qualifies for an election which was a school board member on Sept. 5,” she explained. “As soon as we got the information from the MSOS office we immediately started on the request.”
Once the window opened for absentee ballot distribution on Sept. 21, circuit clerk Barbara Esters-Parker began printing ballots via the Statewide Election Management System (SEMS) to ensure they would be available to those individuals who would need one.
“Even though scannable ballots are rarely available 45 days out, the MSOS office has always advised the circuit clerk's office to issue paper ballots from SEMS which is a normal process until they receive their scannable ballots,” Esters-Parker said.
On each state ballot, the section pertaining to Initiative 65 will include, “Initiative Measure No. 65: Should Mississippi allow qualified patients with debilitating medical conditions, as certified by Mississippi licensed physicians, to use medical marijuana?” or “Alternative Measure No. 65 A: Shall Mississippi establish a program to allow the medical use of marijuana products by qualified persons with debilitating medical conditions?”
