Leflore County Circuit Clerk Trey Evans said his office is as ready as it can be for Tuesday’s elections.
“We’re really a-head of schedule. We’ve been pretty bu-sy as far as absentee ballots and things of that nature,” Ev-ans said Friday.
Electronic voting ma-chines have been programmed and are ready to be delivered to precincts, he said.
Leflore County Election Commission Chairman Edward Course said also that everything was going according to plan.
Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday. The deadline for absentee voting — which is open to elderly, disabled and some other categories of voters — was noon Saturday.
Evans said it’s hard to predict turnout, although this is a judicial cycle, which typically generates less interest than a presidential or statewide election.
Six contested races will be on ballots in Leflore County, although some of them will only be voted on in certain districts. The races are:
nLeflore County Court: Kevin Adams versus Fred Clark
nState Court of Appeals: Tyree Irving versus Ceola James
nCircuit District 4, Place 1: Richard Smith versus George Prewitt
nChancery District 7, Place 3: W.M. Sanders versus Jimmy Miller
nLeflore County District 1 School Board: Claudine Brown versus Margaret Buchanan
nU.S. House of Representatives, 2nd Mississippi District: Democrat Bennie Thompson, Republican Bill Marcy and the Reform Party’s Ashley Norwood
In Carroll County, there are two contested school board races. In Beat 1, incumbent Kenneth Deloach will face Christopher Givens. Beat 2 incumbent Marcus Kuykendall is running against Bonnie Wiggins.
Other circuit and chancery judgeships are not contested.
The election will not be governed by a consent decree signed to settle a lawsuit between the Mississippi Republican Party and Leflore County Election Commission over chaotic conditions during the 2008 presidential election.
The Election Commission agreed in April to sign the document in exchange for the GOP dropping the suit. The deal stipulated that the commission would follow existing state laws.
However, state Sen. David Jordan, who is also a Greenwood City Councilman, intervened. He maintained that the decree changed state election law and thus required U.S. Justice Department pre-approval.
Prior to a Sept. 27 hearing, the Election Commission submitted the consent decree to the Justice Department. Joyce Chiles, the commission’s attorney, said it was done to save time. The hearing was then delayed pending the Justice Department’s finding, which is due by Nov. 26.
Chiles said the Election Commission stands by its assertion that the state laws are already approved by the Justice Department.
She said the only issues in the consent decree that are not addressed in state law involve the use of cell phones at polls and posting of the decree. She said those issues have no impact on anyone’s right to vote, so they are not influenced by the Voting Rights Act.
“I think it’s just a ridiculous tangent to go off on,” Chiles said of the challenge to the consent decree.
Jordan said since the consent decree is not in effect, cell phones can and will be used on Election Day and sheriff’s deputies will not be at the polls. The consent decree said the election bailiff could call Leflore County law enforcement if the bailiff couldn’t handle a situation himself. Chiles said the bailiff has always held that right and that law enforcement could include the sheriff’s department or municipal police.
Although the sheriff won’t be called in to clear up messes at the polls, voters themselves have a new option for reporting problems. They can text “Vote” to 57711 and will receive the number to the Secretary of State’s elections hotline, which is (800) 829-6786.
- Contact Charlie Smith at csmith@gwcommonwealth.
com.
