Polls are open until 7 tonight in Mississippi as voters elect a new president and choose other offices, including U.S. Senate and state Supreme Court seats.
While Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are the two being most talked about this election season, there are a lot of other people running for the nation’s highest office who will appear on the ballot.
In fact, voters will see nine choices for president, or more accurately, presidential electors for president and vice president.
Harris is at the top of the list, while Trump is fifth, following three relatively unknown candidates — Libertarian Chase Oliver, the Green Party’s Jill Stein and the Mississippi Constitution Party’s Randall Terry. Also on the ballot are independent candidates Shiva Aayadurai, Claudia De la Cruz, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Peter Sonski.
Kennedy dropped out of the race and has thrown his support behind Trump, but his departure came after ballots had already been printed.
The first five candidates are listed in alphabetical order with party affiliations, and the last four are listed in alphabetical order without.
Mississippi has six of the 538 Electoral College votes up for grabs, and a candidate needs 270 of them to win the White House. The state hasn’t pulled for a Democrat since Jimmy Carter was elected in 1976.
In addition to the presidency, voters will choose between Republican incumbent Roger Wicker and Democratic challenger Ty Pinkins for U.S. Senate.
U.S. Rep. Michael Guest is the only congressman from the state running unopposed. His district includes Pike, Walthall and Lincoln counties.
In Amite, Franklin and Wilkinson counties, Democratic incumbent U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson faces Republican Ron Eller.
Supreme Court justice Dawn Beam faces a challenge from D’Iberville attorney David Sullivan.
Two Pike County election commissioners face a challenge. Lana B. Sith in District 3 faces Angia Jones Lee, and Stacee Ott in District 5 faces Sandra McGowan Ragas. District 1 commissioner Jemika Bates is unopposed.
Two school board seats also will appear on the ballot. South Pike School District Trustee Carrie Tate Christian faces a challenge from Leslie Hurst, and North Pike Trustee Tabitha Wilson is unopposed.
The candidates for Supreme Court, election commission and school board are running non-partisan races.
