DESOTO COUNTY, MS - If it isn't hot enough in DeSoto County, election season is now heating up. The countdown is on to the primary on August 2nd, but some voters still don't have new registration cards. Will confusion reign at the Mississippi polls next month?
"We get calls every day about people not getting their voter registration cards yet," says Marla Treadway, DeSoto's deputy clerk.
87,000 people are registered to vote in the county. The Circuit Clerk's office is scrambling this week to make sure they all get their new cards on time.
"We have some girls that are still stuffing the envelopes," says Treadway.
The cards detail each voter's new district, precinct, and polling place. People can vote without them, but it makes Election Day run much smoother if everyone has the new IDs.
"It just makes it easier," says Treadway.
What's not been easy is getting the cards out.
"We started printing them almost a month ago," says Treadway, "but we had some problems with some of our printers, so it took longer than we anticipated."
Now, things are back on track. But it may be a tight deadline.
"Hopefully everyone should have their card by the end of the week," she says. "If they didn't get one next week, they should call and see if there's a problem with their address."
Mississippi doesn't have early voting, but senior citizens, people with disabilities, and anyone who will be out of town on Election Day can vote by absentee ballot.
Every ten years, all of DeSoto County's voters have to get new registration cards because of census redistricting.
