Democratic and independent candidates will be at the Margaret Reed Crosby Memorial Library Saturday to speak with voters from 2 to 5 p.m.

The Pearl River County Democratic Party will host the informal meet and greet so that voters can speak with local and statewide candidates. Attendees can listen to brief presentations from candidates and there will be free ice cream.

“It’s such a wide open race with so many incumbents seeking other offices—so there’s open seats, and with open seats there’s opportunity for change, and they can come out and meet the candidates that can make change happen,” said Agnes Dalton, chair of the Pearl River County Democratic Party.

Local candidates like incumbent District 1 Supervisor Donald Hart, candidate for District 40 Senate seat Thomas Lear, and candidate for District 2 Supervisor John Stringer will be in attendance, Dalton said. The majority of state candidates are sending representatives, Dalton said, but candidate for Mississippi Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce Rickey Cole will attend, Dalton said.

Republican and independent candidates have also been invited to the event, so that it will be nonpartisan, Dalton said. She anticipates Republican candidates will not attend, because many local Republican candidates will be unopposed in the general election.

Dalton said she encourages people to call the Circuit Clerk’s office to ensure they are registered to vote and still active. The Circuit Clerk’s office regularly removes names of people from the voter rolls when the office has written notification the person moved or died. The office only purges names of voters on inactive status—meaning they have not voted in two prior federal elections—after a federal election. The next time the office will purge names of voters on inactive status will be the end of 2020, said Circuit Clerk Nance Stokes.

Absentee voting for the general election will begin Sept. 23, the voter registration deadline is Oct. 7 and the general election will be on Nov. 5.