Six of the seven candidates for the Leflore County Election Commission face disqualification because of paperwork errors, according to two recent Mississippi Attorney General’s opinions.
That means only one of the five positions on the commission would be filled starting in 2013.
That’s not enough for the Election Commission to carry out its duties to run elections.
So a special election may be required to fill the vacancies.
“It’s always the taxpayer who bears the brunt of it,” said Leflore County Supervisor Phil Wolfe, who requested one of the attorney general’s opinions. “Special elections are going to cost us a big-time penny, especially county-wise, because people didn’t fill out their paperwork right.”
Wolfe received his opinion Wednesday about information left blank on the form of Bobbie Peoples, a candidate in Leflore County’s District 5.
Election Commission candidates must get signatures from 50 qualified voters in their districts, and the top of each page of signatures must include the candidate’s name, the office sought and the date of the election.
Five of Peoples’ six pages don’t contain any of that information. The remaining page is missing Peoples’ name and the date of the election.
The attorney general cited a long history of court cases and advisory opinions saying petitions aren’t valid if that information is missing.
“Signatures on a candidate petition may not be counted if they appear on pages of the petition which lack the name of the candidate seeking office,” the opinion stated.
Edward Course, the current Election Commission chairman, also appears to be disqualified by that provision, even though his mistake is much smaller than Peoples’.
All of Course’s pages contained all of the required information except one, which lacked his name. That page had eight of Course’s 54 total certified signatures. Eliminating it would push Course below the required 50.
Also, Peoples and Course — as well as candidates Emma Baker, Preston Ratliff, Bernard Tolbert and Debra Tate Hibbler — would be disqualified based on the opinion from Hinds County, which is dated Friday.
It regards a legal requirement for candidates to get their lists of at least 50 signatures certified by the circuit clerk and then deliver it themselves to the chancery clerk before 5 p.m. on the first Monday in June.
Only one in Leflore County did so — District 1 Election Commissioner Deveda Dillon.
But the others followed what has been the normal practice in Leflore County. They turned their forms into the chancery clerk’s office by the deadline but without having the signatures verified. Circuit Clerk Elmus Stockstill then verified those signatures immediately after the June 4 deadline.
“I filed my papers the same way that I have all these years I have been an election commissioner. The exact same way. I did not deviate,” Course said today. “If I was aware of the law, I would have complied with it.”
But he said “the law is the law” and must be followed. If you’re unaware and didn’t comply with it, you’re still out of compliance, he said.
“Complying with the law, that’s the way America was built,” Course said. “You have to do what the law says do.”
The Hinds County Board of Supervisors asked if it could base its decision about whether to put candidates on the ballot on “substantial compliance” with election law rather than “strict compliance.”
The attorney general said strict compliance is required regarding whether the certified petition was filed on time with the chancery clerk.
“It is the responsibility of the candidate to see that the petition is filed with the Chancery Clerk prior to the statutory deadline. If the candidate fails to meet that responsibility, the statute specifically requires the Board of Supervisors to refuse to place the candidate’s name on the ballot,” the opinion stated.
The opinion went on to say that it is the candidate’s responsibility to know where his or her petition is required to be filed and to ensure deadlines are met.
Robert Collins, president of the Leflore County Board of Supervisors, said this morning that he hadn’t seen the attorney general’s opinions yet but that the board would most likely discuss them at its Monday meeting.
The board had delayed its decision about whether to place election commission candidates’ names on the ballot until after Wolfe received his opinion.
Wolfe and Collins both indicated this could be motivation to clean up elections in Leflore County.
“I guess the community now can see why we need voter ID,” Collins said.
• Contact Charlie Smith at 581-7235 or csmith@gwcommonwealth.com.
