This is the state sample ballot for the election in 2004:
http://www.sos.state.ms.us/elections/2004/2004SampleBallot.pdfNotice how Cobb and Harris are the top candidates on right side of this ballot?
that could explain how they got so much support (145 votes/5% for Cobb and 94 votes/3% for Harris)
The other counties could have reorganized the ballot slightly, but I wouldn't be stunned if Sharkey county didn't do that.
I think it's close to proven that people vote for the top candidate on the ballot, and some of them voted for the Green Party or the Socialist party.
results by precinct
http://www.sos.state.ms.us/elections/2004/General/Sharkey.pdfAnguilla CC - 78% to 10% for Kerry (4% for Cobb and 3% for Harris). 92% to 8% for Thompson [congressional race]
Anguilla TH - 45% to 43% for Bush (4% for Cobb and 4% for Harris). 51% to 47% for LeSueur.
Cary TH - 48% to 31% for Kerry (8% for Cobb and 3% for Harris). 59% to 40% for Thompson.
Delta City CC - 58% to 31% for Kerry (5% for Cobb and 2% for Harris). 62% to 38% for Thompson.
Rolling Fork 1 - 64% to 31% for Bush (2% for Cobb and 1% for Harris). 68% to 31% for LaSueur.
Rolling Fork 2 - 34 to 2 for Kerry (2 votes for Harris, 0 votes for Cobb). 31 to 2 for Thompson
Rolling Fork 3 - 70% to 9% for Kerry (5% for Cobb and 6% for Harris). 88% to 10% for Thompson.
Rolling Fork 4 - 48 to 2 for Kerry. (4 votes for Cobb, 2 votes for Harris). 43 to 5 for Thompson.
Spanish Fort - 52 to 17 for Bush (4 votes for Cobb, 0 for Harris). 49 to 19 for LeSueur.
St. Bayou - 62 to 30 for Bush (4 votes for Cobb, 3 for Harris). 59 to 35 for LaSueur.
Vote totals by precinct (Presidential/Congressional)
Anguilla CC - 228/202
Anguilla TH - 539/468
Cary TH - 527/411
Delta City CC - 368/323
Rolling Fork 1 - 635/603
Rolling Fork 2 - 44/33
Rolling Fork 3 - 512/489
Rolling Fork 4 - 62/48
Spanish Fort - 74/68
St. Bayou - 104/94
Best Precinct for the other candidates
Badnarik: Rolling Fork 3
Cobb: Cary Town Hall
Harris: Rolling Fork 3
Nader: Cary Town Hall
Peroutka: Rolling Fork 3
Random note: Mississippi really sucks when it comes to precinct results, if you haven't clicked, it's a .pdf file that is a scan of a paper where the counties put their results in handwriting.
So yeah.. basically Sharkey County could be blamed on "sh**tty ballot design"