Leflore County has 4,000 more registered voters than adults living here, according to a report released Monday by the Mississippi secretary of state.
Data from the 2010 census shows the county’s voting age population is 23,566 compared to 27,616 “current active voters” in the statewide election management system, the report said.
Circuit Clerk Elmus Stockstill, who took office in January, said he contacted Election Commission Chairman Edward Course after receiving the report, and Stockstill said he plans to work with the election commission to purge the rolls.
“It didn’t happen overnight, and we’re not going to fix it overnight,” Stockstill said. “But it is an issue we’re going to address.”
After the elections this year, Stockstill said he plans to examine laws for who can legally be taken off the rolls. He said voters can be purged if they don’t vote in two consecutive federal elections.
Stockstill said they’ll put particular focus on precincts with large discrepancies. For example, he said the Mississippi Valley State University precinct has more than 4,500 registered voters, yet there are fewer than 3,000 students, many of whom commute.
Leflore County is one of 16 counties statewide with more registered voters than its voting age population, according to the secretary of state’s report.
“Bloated voter rolls continue to be an issue in Mississippi,” Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann said in a prepared statement. “We should encourage our Election Commissioners to bring voter rolls up-to-date to maintain the integrity of our election system.”
The report also addressed elections problems that secretary of state observers chronicled during the Aug. 2 primary elections, Aug. 23 runoffs and Nov. 8 general election.
An observer saw campaigning within 150 feet of the Main Street fire station precinct, a violation of state law, during the Aug. 2 primary, the report said. That precinct was part of the controversial District 3 supervisor’s race between Preston Ratliff and Anjuan Brown.
- Contact Charlie Smith at 581-7235 or csmith@
gwcommonwealth.com.
