One week after the wild Super-Tuesday presidential primaries, it was finally Mississippi’s turn to vote for the presidential nominee of the Republican and Democratic parties. Mississippians all over the state went to their local precincts to make their choice on who ought to run our country. Included as voters were a few students out of the Jackson Prep Senior class who met the specific requirements.

In order for a student at Prep to be able to vote, he or she must be at least 18 years of age and be registered with the Mississippi NVRA at least a month before election time. Most seniors met the former, but not the latter requirement, causing them to not be able to vote in this election.

Brooke Womack is a senior at prep who was able to vote in the primary. She says, ”I think it’s important to vote because people in other situations don’t have the opportunities to vote like we do. I also would like a say in who I think should run this country.” Another senior, Ross Edwards was glad he voted, but said, “It was very anticlimactic.”

The process for voting only takes about three minutes to complete. The voter walks into the precinct, like a church or a public school, and is checked for ID. The voter then decides whether to vote republican or democrat, and receives a ticket that the voter then takes to a computer to mark their vote.

The primaries were not the only news to come out Mississippi from the presidential races. Bill Clinton, Ted Cruz, Donald Trump, and John Kasich came to speak around the Jackson area. Many Prep students were able to attend Donald Trump’s rally at Madison Central by reserving tickets from the internet.

Donald Trump’s rally started off with a crowd gathering in Madison Central’s gymnasium, but the crowd grew to where many were moved to the school’s football field to watch the rally from the media board. Trump included in his speech that “There is a lot of wealth in Mississippi, however you’ve got some people who are not doing so well because their jobs are being taken away to foreign lands.”

He also spoke to the appeals of the crowd when he spoke about gun laws and wanting Christianity to have a stronger flavor in America.