As more Mississippians than ever vote absentee, seniors caravan to Coast courthouse
Barbara Weeks, 79, has never seen an election like this one, and there was no way she would leave her vote up to chance.
So she joined a caravan of seniors from around Gulfport who traveled to the Harrison County courthouse to vote on Monday, assisted by state Rep. Sonya Williams-Barnes, D-Gulfport, and a team of volunteers.
“I don’t know what could happen on Nov. 3, what condition I would be in,” said Weeks, who has been voting for so long she can’t remember exactly when she started. “I just thought the line could be too long, so I decided to go ahead.”
Weeks is among the tens of thousands of Mississippians who have already voted absentee, whether in-person or by mail, shattering early turnout records and illustrating the energy around this election.
Williams-Barnes has been organizing caravans like the one on Monday morning for years, and during more elections than she can count, but this one felt different, she said. This year’s protests against racism shone a spotlight on American government, she said, and showed voters and potential voters the importance of electing people who will represent their interests.
“Voters are being educated, and being able to see firsthand from media to social media the challenges that people have, especially people of color,” she said. “I think that this is seen by all races, and this is affecting all people, and that’s why we’re seeing the increased turnout.”
She estimated that about 75 seniors joined the caravan to the courthouse on Monday.
The volunteers started early in the morning, picking up residents around the Gaston Point neighborhood and at retirement communities. They congregated at Lockett-Williams Mortuary, and then drove less than a mile to the courthouse. Just after 10 a.m., the line of voters already wrapped down the hallway. Security guards waved people upstairs and into the circuit clerk’s office in small groups.
Absentee avalanche
Circuit Clerk Connie Ladner told the Sun Herald earlier this month she had never seen turnout like what she’s witnessing this year. In the 45 days of absentee voting in 2016, she said, Harrison County had 5,739 absentee votes. Within the first 10 days of absentee voting this year, that figure was nearly 6,200.
According to the secretary of state’s most recent report on absentee ballots, the county has now received nearly 12,000 absentee ballots.
The trend is holding statewide, where more than 169,000 absentee ballots have been requested. In 2016, just 111,000 people voted absentee.
Ladner said she doesn’t expect the turnout to slow down on Nov. 3.
“If absentee is any indication, it will be huge turnout on Election Day,” she said. “And absentee is usually an indication of what turnout will be on Election Day.”
A larger-than-usual number of those voters will likely be new. Ladner said that in the last month before the voter registration deadline in 2016, Harrison County had 1,122 new registered voters. This year, that figure was 3,313.
Pandemic anxieties
In-person absentee voting holds strong appeal for people who are concerned about possible exposure to COVID-19 at the polls. In South Mississippi, many Black voters, especially seniors, fall into that category.
John Whitfield, pastor of the Morning Star Baptist Church in Gulfport, said he has chosen to keep his services virtual until Harrison County sees 14 days of single-digit case increases. No one in his congregation is complaining.
He’s concerned that well-founded fears of coronavirus exposure could keep people home on Election Day, but absentee voting, though much more restrictive in Mississippi than in other states, is a solution.
“We’re stressing absentee voting and trying to ensure that people have transportation to the polls before Election Day so that they can go to the clerk’s office and vote,” he said. “Without a doubt, I think the African American community in South Mississippi ... is more concerned about the impact of the virus than other communities are.”
Jeffrey Hulum III, head of the nonprofit Extend a Hand - Help a Friend, held voter registration events throughout Harrison County in September and early October, and has been leading groups of voters to the courthouse to vote. He said that Gov. Tate Reeves’ decision to rescind the mask mandate had increased the urgency of avoiding crowds of potentially maskless people on Election Day.
“That put a lot of people in a frenzy,” he said. “They don’t want to be in that situation. What he has done indirectly, is he has encouraged a lot of minorities, especially senior citizens, to go vote absentee.”
(Last week, Jackson County returned to the mask mandate list, and Reeves added Harrison County to the list on Monday.)
To Elaine Moore, who was picked up from her home at the Saraland Manor retirement community, the virus was a key concern when she decided to join the caravan to vote absentee.
“I felt that it was safe,” she said.
Her T-shirt was decorated with stars and a small cartoon of a person looking through a telescope.
“I need my space,” it read.
At 61, she hasn’t missed an election since she was 18.
“I believe in voting,” she said.
The last day to vote absentee in-person is Oct. 31.
This story was originally published October 27, 2020 at 5:50 AM.
