Oktibbeha County Circuit Clerk Angie McGinnis wants to prevent any misunderstandings, misconceptions and misinformation prior to primary elections on Aug. 2, so she”s inviting all of the county”s political candidates back to school for a day.
McGinnis will host a candidate workshop June 2 at 5 p.m. at the Oktibbeha County Courthouse where she”ll cover what is and is not allowed by law with regard to elections and voting.
“The candidates will be able to ask questions and get copies of the laws so they”ll know how far their campaign posters can be posted from the polling place, if they can wear campaign paraphernalia into the voting booth, what credentials their poll watchers will need at the polling place and things like that,” said McGinnis.
The workshop will cover many more scenarios, including all you ever wanted to know about absentee ballots, and McGinnis realizes that will be a lot of information to process in one sitting. That”s why she”ll have literature to pass out to candidates containing some of the language of the law or certain code sections they can reference to refresh themselves at any point along the way.
“Maybe it will keep somebody from being angry. Sometimes people get angry, particularly over elections,” she said.
This will be McGinnis” second candidate workshop. She hosted one four years ago and said approximately 75 percent of the 56 candidates on the ballot showed up.
All of this year”s candidates who are running in contested races will receive personal invitations to the workshop, which was scheduled for 5 p.m. so they wouldn”t miss too much work at their normal jobs. Oktibbeha County”s election commissioners will also be on hand, as well as representatives from the Democratic and Republican parties. And the public is invited to attend and receive a free civics lesson.
McGinnis expects the meeting will last approximately 45 minutes and will include a question and answer period.
Jason Browne was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
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