Circuit clerk's office ready for next week's election

By By William F. West / community editor
Oct. 29, 2002
The Lauderdale County Circuit Clerk's office was low-key but busy on Monday as staffers prepared for election day next week.
Circuit Clerk Donna Jill Johnson, whose responsibilities include supervising elections, helps assist the county's election commission with paperwork and training.
Johnson and her deputy clerks also make sure absentee ballots are processed. As of Monday, Johnson's office had processed 590 absentee ballots for the Nov. 5 general election.
Anyone who wants to vote absentee still has time. They can cast their ballots from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. today through Friday and again from 8 a.m.-noon on Saturday the last day possible.
Johnson said those who have voted absentee include people over 65. Others have included people who will be out of the area on election day, such as railroad workers and truck drivers.
Johnson said the number of people who have stopped by her office has varied through the day.
Johnson said Lauderdale County has about 40,000 registered voters. Johnson purged the voter rolls in 1994 by re-registering voters the first time that happened since 1979.
Tina Googe, a deputy circuit clerk, helped Johnson on Monday prepare for the elections. Googe normally processes criminal court cases for the Lauderdale County Circuit Court.
Googe said she and others in Johnson's office must make sure absentee voters receive the correct ballot. If they don't, Googe said, then their votes won't count in the final tally.