Adams County voters throw their support to Cochran
Published 12:22 am Wednesday, June 25, 2014
NATCHEZ — Adams County voters again showed their support for incumbent Thad Cochran, who carried the county with 56.32 percent of the vote Tuesday in the race for his U.S. Senate seat.
State Sen. Chris McDaniel received 43.63 percent in Adams County.
Cochran will face Democrat Travis Childers on Nov. 4. Childers won the party primary June 3.
The county’s overall voter turnout was lower than expected, but could balance out after 283 absentee voters are counted, Adams County Circuit Clerk Eddie Walker said.
Of Adams County’s 20,178 registered voters, 20.21 percent, or 4,078 voters, cast ballots.
That’s 62 fewer voters than the June 3 primary, said Walker, who expected turnout numbers to be higher Tuesday’s runoff.
“With so much talk about this race, I thought it was going to be a good bit over what we had last time,” Walker said. “But I always hope for more because I think it should be no lower than 95 percent for every election.”
Also on the ballot were Democratic candidates Douglas MacArthur Magee and Dennis C. Quinn, who were vying for incumbent Mississippi Congressman Rep. Gregg Harper’s seat in the Third Congressional District.
Magee received 52.01 percent in Adams County, while Quinn received 44.94 percent.
Magee will face Harper, independent Roger Gerrard and Reform Party candidate Barbara Dale Washer Nov. 4.
Walker said poll workers reported early in the day that some voters tried to cross party lines and vote for a different party than the one they voted for in the June 3 election.
“There were only a few instances of that, and it was cleared up pretty quickly,” Walker said. “It was a smooth day overall.”
The election marked the second one in which residents of the state were required to show a photo ID before casting their ballots.
Walker said only one resident had to cast an affidavit ballot Tuesday because the voter didn’t have a proper form of photo identification.
Natchez resident Pat Powell, who voted at the National Guard Armory precinct, said he liked the new voter ID policy and didn’t have any issues with this election — other than some of the negative advertisements between the Cochran and McDaniel camps.
“I don’t like all the mudslinging, but I kind of get used to it,” Powell said. “I think in some of the ads they addressed issues, but some went too far.
“Overall, it has been a good election.”
Powell said he didn’t think the three-week span between the primary election and the runoff election changed the way residents voted Tuesday.
“I think they already had their minds made up,” Powell said.