Absentee voting underway in primary elections
Published 12:00 pm Monday, January 26, 2026
Mississippians who will be out of town, undergoing surgery or otherwise unable to make it to the polls on Election Day can still take part in the 2026 primary elections as absentee voting gets underway.
This year’s primaries, which are set for March 10, include each of the Magnolia State’s four seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and one of the state’s two U.S. Senate seats. In Lauderdale County, part of Mississippi’s Third Congressional District, only the U.S. Senate seat will have a contested primary election.
On the Republican ticket, incumbent Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith is being challenged by Sarah Alakha, a physician from the coast, while a three-way contest between Scott Colom, Albert R. Littell and Priscilla W. Till will be featured on the Democratic ballot.
Colom is district attorney in Columbus and was previously nominated by the Biden administration to serve as a federal judge for the Northern District of Mississippi. His appointment was blocked Hyde-Smith.
Littell is a native of Chicago and Marine Corps veteran who retired to Mississippi in 2005 after a career with the Chicago Transit Authority, while Till is a Jackson native and cousin to Emmett Till, whose 1955 murder by two white men in Money, Mississippi, caused national outrage and helped galvanize the Civil Rights movement.
The two candidates who clinch their parties’ nominations will go on to face each other and Independent Ty Pinkins in the general election, set for Nov. 3.
On the House side, incumbent Rep. Michael Guest is running unopposed on the Republican ballot, while Michael A. Chiaradio is running unopposed on the Democratic side. The two candidates will go on to the general election where they will face each other and Libertarian Erik Kiehle.
Also on the November general election ballot will be seats for Chancery Court and Circuit Court. In Lauderdale County, part of the 12th Chancery District, both current Chancellors Amanda Trawick Rainey and Austin C. Terry face no competition between them and another term. In the 10th Circuit Court District, Circuit Court Judges Charles W. Wright and Robert T. Bailey are in the same position with no challengers qualified to face them on the ballot.
While several seats on the Mississippi Court of Appeals are set to be decided this year, none of them are in District 3, which includes Lauderdale County and the surrounding area.
A special election will also be included on the Nov. 3 ballot for residents of Lauderdale County’s Second Justice Court District to elect a new judge. The race comes after Judge Ondray Harris Sr. died in December in a fishing accident. Lauderdale County supervisors appointed LaBaron Hedgemon to serve as interim judge until the election can be held.
Residents needing to register to vote or update an existing registration with new information, such as an address change, have until Feb. 9 to be able to vote in the March 10 primary. Registration for the Nov. 3 election ends Oct. 5.
