In-person and mail-in absentee ballots are now available for voters ahead of Mississippi’s April 1 municipal primary elections for positions such as mayor, city councils and boards of aldermen.
Mississippi only allows absentee voting for people under certain circumstances—such as if a qualified voter will be outside their county of residence on Election Day, is over 65 or has a disability. In some cases, residents can cast absentee votes by mail. More information on who can vote absentee is available here.
Residents can also contact their local municipal clerk to verify that they are eligible to vote absentee, the Secretary of State’s office said in a Feb. 18 press release.
Those who cannot visit their municipal clerk’s office during the work week can vote absentee in person on Saturday, March 22 and Saturday, March 29, from 8:00 a.m. until noon.
The last day to cast an in-person absentee ballot is March 29, while mail-in absentee ballots must be postmarked on or before the day of the primaries on April 1, the press release said.
A raft of candidates—including incumbent Jackson Mayor Chokwe A. Lumumba—will appear on the primary election ballot for both mayor and each City Council position in the capital city.
Five independent candidates are running for Jackson mayor: Zach Servis, Rodney DePriest, Lille Stewart-Robinson, Kim Wade and John Olver Emmerich III. Five independent candidates are running for city council positions: Ashby Foote, Grace Greene, Marcus T. Jackson, Ray McCants and Ron Aldridge.
Independent candidates will not appear on the primary election ballots but will appear on the ballot for Jackson’s municipal election on June 3.
The City of Jackson’s Municipal Democratic Executive Committee finalized the list of qualified Democratic candidates on Feb. 10, disqualifying both Keyshia Sanders and Ali ShamsidDeen from running for mayor this year.
Sanders, the City of Jackson’s former Constituent Service Manager, pleaded guilty to one felony count of wire fraud in 2023. The committee disqualified Sanders based on her status as a convicted felon.
ShamsidDeen, who the committee disqualified after questioning whether he meets the residency requirement, appealed the disqualification. However, on Feb. 18, Special Appointed Judge Forrest A. Johnson upheld the committee’s decision, ruling that ShamsidDeen does not meet the residency requirements to run for mayor in Jackson.
He has not yet decided whether or not he will appeal that decision to the Mississippi Supreme Court, he told the Mississippi Free Press on Feb. 20.
Residents must be registered to vote by March 3 to vote in this year’s municipal primary election. All mail-in voter registrations must be postmarked by March 3, 2025.
Learn more about absentee voting in Mississippi by visiting the Secretary of State’s website or by contacting your municipal clerk’s office.
