Voter turnout 'steady' in South Mississippi

Voter turnout in the general election Tuesday has been "steady," according to several precinct managers in South Mississippi.

Voters are deciding state and county races as well as a ballot initiative on education funding.

Some voters have complained about the ballot's design on the Initiative 42 issue.

"It's gobbledygook," Pat Lawson of Gulfport said. "I couldn't understand anything it said."

The issue requires two votes, one for whether to amend the constitution, then a second one to choose between Initiatives 42 and 42A.

Stephanie Ladner, election commission for District 1 in Hancock County, said poll workers have directed voted to informational posters about the initiative, but no one has complained about being confused.

"I can't believe we haven't had (complaints)," she said.

There was more confusion in St. Martin where voters are split with four ballots at the city's lone polling place.

"Getting people the right ballot is a problem," manager B.J. Sumrall said. "The county lines, state lines and school lines don't line up."

In a district with 7,600 active registered voters Sumrall said they will be "lucky to get 2,000 voters."

He described turnout as "historically, I guess, good," with a shrug.

In D'Iberville, manager Edward Schuette said, "It's been steady. You can't compare it to the primary, you can't compare it to the runoff. We'll probably get about 2,000" voters out of the 5,000 registered.

Ladner said the turnout in Hancock County has been "awesome."

"We've got such a great turnout," she said. "I'm in District 1 and I've been to a couple of precincts in District 5, and it's been great."

Noticeably missing from some precincts were campaign workers waving signs.

D'Iberville and St. Martin were an exception, where county supervisor and education supervisor races had supporters out.

Harrison County District 1 opponents Beverly Martin and Donald Todd met for the first time outside the D'Iberville Civic center.

They wished each other luck and Martin, sporting red, white and blue-festooned shoes, thanked Todd for not stealing her signs.

Kate Magandy, Sun Herald digital editor, contributed to this report.

This story was originally published November 3, 2015 at 3:54 PM with the headline "Voter turnout 'steady' in South Mississippi ."