Whitney Downard / The Meridian StarVoter turnout for the Democratic primaries has been low across precincts Tuesday.

Incumbent Mayor Percy Bland took an easy win over challenger Allen Shute in Tuesday’s Democratic primary election, garnering about 93 percent of the vote.

Bland’s win means he will face Ward 2 City Councilman Dustin Markham, Republican William Bond Compton and Libertarian Mariner Durant in the June 6 general election.  

“I’m honored that (voters) have expressed such confidence in me and the direction that Meridian is moving in,” Bland said following his win Tuesday. “I look forward to a spirited debate over the next few weeks with the other candidates as we make our cases to the people.”

Shute was not available for comment Tuesday night.

In race for the Ward 2 seat on the Meridian City Council, Nathaniel (Nate) Pringle, Jr. and Tyrone Johnson are headed to the primary runoff election on May 16. Pringle, Jr. garnered about 35 percent of the vote to Johnson’s 36 percent. Tabbotha Adams-Jones followed with 30 percent of the total votes. The winner of the primary runoff will face Republican Christopher Von Cockrell in the June 6 general election. 

“We’re going to go at it harder for the runoff,” Pringle said Tuesday night, adding that he wanted to focus his efforts on increasing voter turnout. “There’s so much we need to do in Ward 2.”

Adams-Jones and Johnson could not be reached for comment Tuesday night. 

The mayor of Meridian, elected every four years, earns $80,000 a year while city council members, also elected every four years, receive $20,000 a year. The council president, when selected, will also receive a $2,500 stipend for the year they serve. 

Low turnout

Voter turnout in Tuesday’s primary was low, with 3090 0f 20079 (15.39 percent) of Meridian’s registered voters casting a ballot. Throughout the day, voter turnout remained slow and steady, according to poll workers.

“We’ve had more than expected,” Dinah Farmer, the returning and receiving clerk at the Poplar Springs Drive United Methodist Church Ward 5E polling place, said around lunchtime.

There are 1,541 voters registered to vote at the church but only 50 votes, or 3 percent, had been cast by lunchtime. Another 27 absentee votes, less than 2 percent of registered voters, brought the total votes cast to 77, or just under 5 percent.

The Trinity Presbyterian Church has the highest number of registered voters, 2,338, but only 86 votes, less than 4 percent, of registered voters had voted by lunchtime. 

Poll workers at multiple locations said that they anticipated a little bump in the late afternoon hours but didn’t expect many voters to vote at the primary elections – which generally have low voter turnout.

Unregistered voters who missed the primaries can still vote in the general election if they register to vote by May 6. Mississippi doesn’t have early voting, but voters with a legal reason to miss the election can vote absentee.