A sample ballot that Panola County voters will see on Tuesday, Nov. 3, is published at this site. Click here to view the Official Ballot.  In a Presidential election year, and with several races to be decided locally, the ballot is long with races and proposed initiatives.

Oct. 5 is the last day to register to vote to be eligible to cast a ballot in the  General Election.  Voters may register at the Circuit Clerk’s office or mail in a registration to Panola County Circuit Clerk, P.O. Box 346, Batesville, MS 38606.

Absentee in person voting is now available at both the Sardis Courthouse Circuit Clerk’s office and the Batesville Courthouse Circuit Clerk’s office.  Voters are asked to wear masks and socially distance if there are multiple voters.

Poll manager training sessions for the election will be held in October and those dates and times will be included in the Oct. 7 edition of The Panolian.

Logic and Accuracy Training is scheduled for Oct. 22 at the Batesville Courthouse at 9 a.m.

For in-person absentee Voting the Circuit Clerk’s office will be open on Sat., Oct. 24 from 8 a.m. until noon for any voter who qualifies for absentee voting, especially for those persons who work out of town during the week and  college students.

The last day to vote in person absentee is Sat., Oct. 31.  The Circuit Clerk’s office will be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. each business day for absentee voting as well.

For mail-in absentee voting the Post Office is advising voters to mail absentee ballots 5-7 days before the Nov. 3 election to arrive at the Circuit Clerk’ office by the day of election.  The latest postmark acceptable for an absentee ballot is Nov. 3.

On the sample ballot included in this issue, readers will see choices for Election Commissioner for each of the county’s five districts, but the actual ballots on election day will only give voters the choice to vote for those candidates in their own district.

Just one district election commissioner, Wayne Belk in Ward 3, has an opponent this year. He is being challenged by Gloria Tucker, who qualified for the post as a Democratic candidate. Elections commissioner candidates, in an effort to have the public’s confidence of impartiality, almost always qualify as Independents, but Tucker is not precluded from running as a Democrat by state law.

Three ballot measures will be put before voters in November, with the Measure 1 medical marijuana initiative and the Measure 3 referendum on the new State Flag getting the most attention from media and advertising groups.

Those issues will be covered more on these pages as the election draws closer.