Voters take to the polls in Meridian

Lauderdale County residents were exercising their right to vote Tuesday.

“I just want peace. I just want everyone to be working together,” Gwendolyn Hill says.

By mid-afternoon the turnout was high. At the Velma Young Center over 500 people had voted by 3:00 p.m. There were 600 at Northcrest Baptist Church.

“It was really smooth. We had a really smooth election. Three weeks ago, we had a slightly larger turnout,” Election Commissioner Jeff Tate says.

There were roughly 1,200 absentee ballots cast. That’s down from the nearly 2,000 before November 6.

“I think that voters, three weeks ago, got more familiar with the new voting machines. Things just went a lot smoother today. There were no hiccups,” Tate says.

Joe Richardson says he wears the “I voted” sticker as a badge of honor.

“To me, voting is absolutely important. Even though my candidate might not win, at least I have a choice,” Richardson says.

“The biggest issue we had today was running out of “I voted” stickers, so it was a really good day,” Tate says.

Boxes started arriving at the Lauderdale County Courthouse around 7:45 p.m. Election Day.