Mississippians Polls Open to March 8 Presidential Primaries

Facebook asks if you are voting today, and the social media site gives you the option to share if you voted or to find a voting place near you.

Today, March 8, Mississippians have the chance to elect one Democrat and Republican to win the state delegates in the presidential primary election.

The primary comes one day after Republican candidates Donald J. Trump and Ted Cruz held rallies in central Mississippi on March 7.

Along with Mississippi, three other states are caucusing or voting in a primary including Hawaii, Idaho and Michigan. The states will choose one Democrat and one Republican to collect delegate votes. So far, Donald J. Trump is leading the Republican primaries with 384 of 1,237 of the delegate votes needed to win the GOP nomination, and Hillary Clinton is leading the Democrat primaries with 1,130 of the 2,383 delegate votes needed to win the Democrat nomination.

Mississippi, which has 41 Democrat delegates and 40 Republican delegates, is one of two states to hold an open primary today. An open primary means voters can vote in any party primary, but can only vote in one. Michigan will have an open primary and Idaho and Hawaii will have closed, which means only voters registered in their respective party may vote in the party primary.

According to Mississippi Secretary of State, who was a guest on Super Talk Mississippi this morning, less than two percent of Mississippians voted absentee, which is a low turnout to the usual four percent absentee voter turnout.

Voting polls opened at 7 a.m. across the state and will close at 7 p.m. Remember, in Mississippi, a voter must present an acceptable I.D. or the last four digits of the voter’s social security number in order to vote.

Emily Newton is a staff reporter for hottytoddy.com and the editor of Experience Oxford magazine. She is a recent graduate of the Meek School of Journalism and New Media. Emily graduated from Ole Miss in May of 2015 with a degree in journalism and a minor in politics science. She can be reached at emily.newton@hottytoddy.com.