We’ve watched, read, discussed and heard the candidates, parties and our family and friends talk about the election and now it’s time to make it happen.
The greatest and most powerful country in the world heads to the polls Tuesday to elect our next leader.
Your Clarksdale Press Register will have accurate local results on our website Tuesday night. We will come to your home with our trusty print edition and the local precinct breakdown on Thursday. We’ll see how long the national media has to work to get an accurate vote and decision.
Bullet Points
• Coahoma County reported 721 absentee ballots had been cast as of Tuesday Oct. 29. This was after 474 votes had been cast as of Monday, Oct. 21. The Oct. 21 graphic that ran in your Clarksdale Press Register showed city boxes with the largest number of absentee ballots.
• I did a check of the party generated Emails sent to your Clarksdale Press Register over a 30-day period last week. I got 204 from Democrats touting Kamala Harris. I got 178 from Republicans pushing Donald Trump. These were not local letters, but form letters sent from both camps to this newspaper. Some I read and I can’t wait until next week when I can kill them all off.
• I also got robo phone calls from candidates. That is actually supposed to be illegal in Mississippi and I sent them on to the Public Service Commission via a nifty little app they offer to fight that crime. I even got calls from some candidate in Houston, Texas.
I’ve often wondered if one side sends out those calls touting the other candidate and trying to aggravate me so I vote for their candidate. Such is the devious world of political campaigns.
• You can find a story on the details of voting on Page One of your Clarksdale Press Register. Let’s see if we can follow the rules around here.
• What are we going to talk about on Facebook after Tuesday’s election?Anyone who thinks a 20 word sentence followed by an exclamation point is going to change the world is stupid!
Did I just prove my point?
Critical Election
All elections are critical and tough decisions must be made.
A lady came in our office Wednesday wanting to publish an ad very critical of one of our presidential candidates. She even offered to buy an ad.
We read the letter and there were allegations that I just could not prove. She said she had checked them and they were true.
Maybe they were. I’ll even venture they probably were true.
But as Editor and Publisher it is yours truly who gets sued if something gets in your Clarksdale Press Register that is not true and we didn’t do our part to find the truth.
I’ve got more than 30 years in this business and proudly say I have never been sued. That looks good on a resume.
Some of you would have championed her letter. Some of you would probably never talk to me again.
Her letter was titled “Character is What Matters Most.” I could agree with that.
I also thought of all the scurvy politicians I have known – and some of them are from Clarksdale. We don’t always vote for the best people.
Truth is a difficult virtue to master. People want to bend it, tell half of it and argue it. I believe the truth does not bend. I believe a half truth is a whole lie. I believe you can argue the truth but that does not change it one bit.
That ad would probably have made your Clarksdale Press Register more than $700.
Oh, I want to add, you can’t buy the truth.
And the winner is
So who is going to win the election?
On the local level it will be those candidates with the most votes.
But at the national level it all depends on the Electoral College. If you don’t know how that works you should have listened closer in your high school civics class.
I think I can safely predict that the majority of Mississippians will vote for Trump and that will prompt all of Mississippi’s Electoral College votes to follow him.
I think I can safely predict that the majority of Coahoma County voters will vote for Harris and Delta Democrats will have once again done their part and supported their candidates.
The great part about this country’s election process is we – the United States – will pick our next President.
Deadlines continue
Unless the Lord calls me home, I will put out another edition of the Clarksdale Press Register, next week, and the week after and the week after that.
We’ll be covering city and county government, football teams in the playoffs and the start of basketball season. We’ll also talk a lot about Thanksgiving, Christmas and the New Year.
And do you realize candidates will start qualifying for Clarksdale city offices on Jan. 2?
I hope people realize life goes on after every election. Elections always offer a glimmer of hope for a better future.
Floyd Ingram is the Editor of your Clarksdale Press Register. I hope you vote Tuesday. Call him at 662-627-2201 on Wednesday Nov. 6 to either gloat or cry.
