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Welcome to The Homestretch, a every day weblog that includes essentially the most complete protection of the 2023 Mississippi governor’s race. This web page, curated by the Mississippi Right this moment politics crew, will characteristic the most important storylines of the 2023 governor’s race at 7 a.m. day-after-day between now and the Nov. 7 election.
If Tuesday’s governor’s race between Republican incumbent Tate Reeves and Democratic challenger Brandon Presley is as shut as some predict, a winner may not be recognized on Nov. 7 Election Day.
It’s potential we’d not even be recognized that night time whether or not Reeves and Presley will advance to a Nov. 28 runoff.
In Mississippi, below a current change to the state structure, candidates for statewide places of work should acquire a majority vote within the normal election to keep away from a runoff. A runoff may happen this yr as a result of impartial Gwendolyn Grey additionally can be on the poll for governor. Grey introduced in October she was dropping out of the race and endorsing Presley, however her choice got here too late to be faraway from the poll.
A number of polls up to now couple weeks have proven Reeves below the 50% threshold, and Republicans are scrambling to prove GOP voters. In principle, if Reeves garnered just below or simply over 50% of votes forged on Election Day, early and affidavit votes may delay a last name.
Mississippi’s native election officers sometimes can depend most votes on election night time. However a small share of votes should not in a position to be counted immediately. Beneath state regulation, mail-in ballots postmarked by Nov. 7 can be counted so long as they arrive within the native circuit clerk’s workplace by 5 p.m. on Nov. 15 — eight days after Election Day.
That can also be the deadline for individuals who voted by affidavit with no government-issued picture identification to return with proof of who they’re if they need their vote to depend.
Throughout the identical time interval, voters who forged absentee ballots that had been rejected due to questions on their signature additionally may have a chance to problem that rejection.
Then by Nov. 17, every county is meant to submit its licensed returns to the Mississippi Secretary of State’s workplace.
And if no candidate has captured a majority based mostly on the tabulations from the native election officers, there can be a runoff 11 days later than that Nov. 17 certification date. That might, after all, be the primary normal election runoff in state historical past.
READ MORE: The racist origins of runoff elections, which Mississippi may see in November governor’s race
Headlines From The Path
How Mississippi’s troubled prison system has fared under Tate Reeves and Burl Cain
Opinion: How a Mississippi vote next week could foretell Democrats’ 2024 fate
What We’re Watching
1) There’s one final weekend for the candidates to greet voters face-to-face. The place will Reeves and Presley spend the ultimate 5 days of the marketing campaign? On Thursday, Reeves frolicked on the Gulf Coast — historically his base, as Mississippi Right this moment’s Taylor Vance wrote when the governor formally kicked off his 2023 marketing campaign. Presley on Thursday campaigned in Vicksburg, Brookhaven and Hattiesburg.
2) Outgoing Speaker of the Home Philip Gunn, who has clashed with Reeves always over the previous 12 years and has stayed pretty quiet this cycle, threw support the governor’s approach on conservative radio host Paul Gallo present on Thursday morning with an eyebrow-raising quote: “We’re not electing a homecoming queen right here. This isn’t who’s the prettiest or who can we like one of the best? It is a critical place that’s going to serve for the following 4 years because the governor of this state.”
3) Will the Republican Governors Affiliation pump cash into the state within the waning days of the marketing campaign? Reeves has been outraised by at the very least $5 million, because of Presley’s receipt of hundreds of thousands from the Democratic Governors Affiliation. Equally, will the DGA spend extra? Candidates should report donations they obtain inside 48 hours of receipt between now and Election Day.
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