By By Steve Swogetinsky and Sheila Blackmon/The Meridian Star
April 18, 2001
Area election officials reported small, moderate and large turnouts Tuesday as East Mississippians showed up at the polls to vote in a statewide flag referendum. Here is a sampling of comments from the area.
Newton County
Brandy Graham of the Newton County Circuit Clerk's office said "a good many people" came in to vote. The phone rang off the hook all day, she said. People wanted to make sure they were registered. They wanted to know where they should go to vote.
By the time the tallying was over, records showed 48.9 percent of Newton County's voters turned out, with the current flag winning 4,642 votes to 1,713.
Kemper County
Roma Allen of the Kemper County Circuit Clerk's office, reported a moderate turnout Tuesday at about 6 p.m.
After tallying the ballots, Allen said 1,811 voters favored the new flag design while 1,723 voted to keep the current flag.
Noxubee County
Noxubee County Circuit Clerk Carl Mickens reported a small turnout.
Noxubee County voters favored the new design by a margin of 2,089 to 1,270.
Steve Swogetinsky is a regional editor of The Meridian Star. E-mail him at sswogetinsky@themeridianstar.com.
Sheila Blackmon is a staff writer for The Meridian Star. E-mail her at sblackmon@themeridianstar.com.