I just cast my vote (#149, according to the machine) and now I’m headed to Southwest Mississippi, an area I’ve always wanted to explore but haven’t yet spent much time, to keep an eye on the polls there. Follow along as @MSTODAYnews dispatches across the state today #mselex

Just ordered fried chicken and potato wedges from a gas station outside of Georgetown, Mississippi because none of this is normal

This is Sontag, MS. At the NOLA precincts, two trailers attached perpendicularly, black residents vote at one and whites at the other, I’m told, due to districting. “You watch,” one poll worker told me in a very, very quiet voice.

He told me this after I asked: “Do you think the state is trying to prevent certain people from voting?”

He said yes, then I asked him what that looks like:

“When they pull up, we know what building they’re going to by what color they are. Why is it like that?”

At the 4-Sontag precinct, serving 457 registered voters, there was a line this morning, very unusual for them. 85 had already voted by about 9:30am.

At NOLA, one man showed up at 6am to vote. They’d had about 12 total by 10am. In past elections they’d get about 12 for the day.

This is Arm, MS. There was a short line outside the building, due to COVID and social distancing inside.

This is Monticello, MS. Nina Hill (left) is set up at a precinct asking for volunteers for a petition to reverse the state flag change, done by the Legislature in June, and put it to a people’s vote. She said she’s not asking people to vote NO on the current ballot init though...

I think I’ve seen the sign advertising the petition (far left in photo) at every precinct so far.

This is Jayess, MS. The precinct had historically been located at the Jayess Masonic Lodge but moved to The Refuge, an after school program, this year because of the lodge’s poor conditions/mold. Poll workers haven’t reported any issues today.

The precinct of 582 had recorded 211 votes by about 12:45pm. Voters I talked to here, at a precinct displaying many large American flags, discussed patriotism and fears of socialism. Unusually long lines/crowded street this morning, I’m told.

Y’all I’ve been on some BACK roads but now I’ve arrived at one of the larger Pike precincts at Navilla Baptist Church in McComb where there’s a significant line at 1:30pm.

When I walked in, two of the pollworkers were visibly exhausted. One hunched over, hung his arms dead as I approached him. They’ve never seen lines like this. Usually there’s a lull at some point, but not today as they’ve had a steady stream of voters.

One pollworker was starting to tell me about how they’ve had a few polling place mixups as she scanned this man’s ID, when she had to tell him he was at the wrong precinct. “So I just stood in line an hour.. for nothing?”

Luckily they realized the system still recorded him at his childhood address, so he was able to vote affidavit.

This is Tangipahoa (unincorporated Amite). You can tell this is unusual for this small, rural, standalone precinct. Talked to an older man who’s been voting here 40yrs and has always been able to walk right in. He and his wife drove by 3 times trying to avoid the constant line.

Also news: $1.00 punkins

This is Bude, MS. Inside, a friendly woman named Margie McNair, election commissioner, tells me they’ve had great turnout and a smooth process. She had heard rumors the polls “could be real disruptive, but we haven’t had anything.”

Bude is by far the biggest precinct in Franklin County with 1,016 registered voters. They’d recorded 400 votes by 3:44pm.

Asked if she thought there was a reason this election had resonated with so many locals, McNair responded playfully: “You know what it is but I can’t say. You know why. In your report, just say you asked me and my reply was, ‘You know why.’”