A former legislative candidate conceded defeat Thursday, while complaining about the shortage of voting machines in many precincts.

District 83 candidate, Gary Houston, a Democrat, thanked his supporters during a news conference, two days after his loss to incumbent Republican Greg Snowden.

But Houston says he is concerned about the fact that several precincts had long lines because of huge turnout and a shortage of electronic voting machines.

"We know the federal government has provided millions of dollars to make sure we have enough voting machines at all our precincts," said Houston. "And we want to work with local and state officials to ensure in the future that there's enough voting machines so that the citizens can exercise their right to vote."

Houston also says he'd like to see Mississippi have some kind of early voting system, like many other states now allow.