Former Vice President Joe Biden won the Presidential Democratic Primary in Coahoma County with 2,382 votes (76.81 percent), while incumbent President Donald Trump won the Republican Primary with 203 votes (96.67 percent).
Both Biden and Trump won the primaries in the state of Mississippi. However, primary elections throughout the United States will be taking place through June 6.
Mike Espy won the Democratic Primary in Coahoma County in the race for the US Senate with 2,655 votes (89.03 percent), while incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith won the Republican Primary with 195 votes (99.49 percent). Espy and Hyde-Smith also won the nominations statewide and will compete for the seat in the Nov. 10 general election.
Incumbent US Rep. Bennie Thompson won the Democratic Primary in Coahoma County with 2,607 votes (85.28 percent), while Thomas Carey and Brian Flowers appear to be headed in a runoff in the Republican Primary on March 31. Flowers received 82 votes (50 percent), while Carey received 50 votes (30.49 percent). Thompson won the Democratic nomination and will go against the winner of the runoff in the Nov. 10 general election.
Otha Williams III and incumbent Ted Winters Sr. both ran for the Yazoo Mississippi Delta Levee Board in the Democratic Primary and were the two winners. Williams received 1,761 votes (39.31 percent), while Winters received 1,573 votes (35.11 percent). William Chapman also and garnered 1,114 ballots or 24.87 percent.
A little more than 23 percent of the registered voters in Coahoma County cast their ballots in Tuesday’s primary election with the majority of activity coming in the Democratic races.
A total of 3,615 of the 15,621 registered voters in the county participated as of Tuesday night. The Democratic Primary had 3,401 voters, while 214 voted in the Republican Primary. The affidavits and absentee ballots had not been counted, but those votes are not expected to change any of the results.
“We can’t make people vote,” said Coahoma County Circuit Clerk Demetria Jackson. “We encourage them to register to vote, but we can’t make them go to the polls and vote. Most of the time, people will come out on the more local elections – the county races when we have those races. Other than that, people just don’t come out and vote. It’s just something they don’t do.”
While most of the registered voters did not show up to the polls, Coahoma County Democratic Party chair Ray Sykes saw reason for optimism.
“Based on the election that I’m looking at, based on four years ago with the same type of Presidential primary, we actually voted, from my guesstimation, about a five percent increase from four years ago,” Sykes said. “Although it’s a low turnout, normally it’s a low turnout based on the primary. People really don’t come out until the general election.
Jackson said the higher voter turnout in the Democratic Primary may have been partially due to the fact that more of its races were undecided. She added that having the primary in Mississippi after Super Tuesday, which is expected to play a big role in determining the Presidential nominees, could have lowered the voter turnout.
“People weren’t concerned about today’s election,” Jackson said.
Jackson said the Democratic and Republican parties ran their primaries, but the County paid for the election. She said the County would both run and pay for the runoff election March 31 and the general election Nov. 10. Citizens may only vote in the primary they participated in Tuesday in the runoff, but they are able to vote for any candidate in the general election.
