Less than two weeks before the general election, independent candidates have found an unlikely ally in their complaint that their names are too far down on the ballot - one of the major political parties they renounced.
The Leflore County Republican Executive Committee has drafted a letter to the county's Election Commission appealing the ballot design.
John Downs, the county's Republican chairman, says the request isn't out of support for any of the independents. The party, which backs only Republican candidates, was concerned about disenfranchisement, he said.
"We're looking at the overall picture of voter rights, of voter access to ballots that are easy to decipher and understand so that the voting public would not inadvertently leave anyone off the ballot they would like to vote for," Downs said.
But the county's Democratic Party Chairman Jessie Ross says the Republicans are just trying to create a smoke screen to conceal their party's weaknesses in statewide races.
"To me, they're just looking for something to sort of create a stir," said Ross. "They realize their candidates are in trouble, so I think they are trying to do whatever they can to create a stir and draw attention to themselves."
The ballot issue was first brought up by various independents earlier this month. They complained their names were unfairly placed on the very bottom line of the list of candidates voters will see when they go into the booths. In some county races, as many as four blank spaces separate Democrats from their independent opponents.
State law leaves all aspects of ballot design for "the discretion of the officer charged with printing the official ballot."
That's Edward Course, chairman of the Election Commission. Course says the commission drew up the ballot keeping in mind another state law, one that recommends following the official ballot handed down by the state. This year's state ballot includes three alternative parties - the Green, the Constitution and the Reform - all of which come before independents in the ballot order.
One glaring error, the placement of Republican state Auditor Phil Bryant in the Democratic bracket, has already forced the commission to reprint the ballots. Now that all errors have been corrected, Course says the Republican petition won't change anything. Yet another law, he says, won't allow it.
"We cannot change the ballot, he said. "If there's an error you can correct an error on the ballot, but you cannot reprint the ballot to allow other candidates a different place."
The Secretary of State's Office affirms Course's interpretation of the law. The reasoning goes back to a withdrawal statute that prohibits candidates from ducking out of a race once the ballots are printed, according to David Blount, spokesman for the Secretary of State's Office.
"Generally, the law is ballots are not reprinted once they have been printed," Blount said.
Some independent candidates have run with a party affiliation in previous elections. Going independent has allowed them to skip the primary and save up their resources for Nov. 4. That's the reason most of them give for running without a party.
Although there are independents who have run as Democrats in the past, Ross says his party doesn't advocate for anyone but Democratic candidates, he said. "As Democrats, we do not support independents."
Neither do the Republicans, according to Downs. He doesn't try to read their minds either, he said.
"They could be either one, Republican or Democrat," he said. "Their mind-set is theirs. I don't know."
