VIDEO: New Local Elections For The Town Of Caledonia

CALEDONIA, Miss. (WCBI)—After a controversial first race the Caledonia candidates for alderman and mayor are once again at the mercy of the voters.

“This time be better prepared with everything and make sure there wouldn’t be any mistakes,”said Caledonia Town Clerk Lindy Thomason.

After 3 different counts, confusion, and controversy over who won the June 6th general election, commissioners in Caledonia set a brand new election to decide the winners in the mayoral and aldermen races.

“I think it’s just kind of a godsend, honestly, that it didn’t work the first time for a reason and maybe this is our chance to make it work this time, for the right reasons,”said Caledonia resident Ashley Young.

Thomason says due to actions taken in the previous election, they are suffering the financial consequences today. Though the election won’t cost more than it did last time, there was no room in the budget for a redo.

“We did have an election budget line that we had $2,5oo for, but we’ve already, almost spent all of that. We’re down to like $200,”said Thomason.

Thomason says town officials are doing everything they can to make sure this election is accurate and sticks.

“Check with the Circuit Clerks offices here in Lowndes County. They are more familiar with doing elections. They are going to be available to us by phone. We can call them anytime during the election or tallying of the votes. The secretary does have a representative here this time but we aren’t allowed to interact with him at all. He’s just  there to watch watching,” said Thomason.

Caledonia resident Jack Mercer says he appreciates all the extra precautions the town is taking but hopefully this will lead to permanent changes in the future.

“This is the last election we will be using paper ballots, I went to the meeting the other night and we will be using paper ballots. Now we are going back to the electronic ones and it and get it done in two minutes,” said Mercer.

Thomason says for this election the town experienced a slight increase in voter registration from 735 to 744. The polls  will officially close at 7 pm.