CARROLLTON — The District 46 House race and local races in Carroll County have stirred up emotions and interest in Tuesday’s general election.
If absentee voting is an indication, Carroll is looking at a high turnout.
“We have 400 absentee votes. That would seem to indicate a high interest level,” Circuit Clerk Durward Stanton said.
“That number is not much different from the norm, but considering the relatively light turnout in the primaries, it is more than expected. We have 7,442 active registered voters. That means we have had a 5.3 percent absentee turnout,” Stanton said.
Some voters said they are interested mostly in local races, while others are more concerned about state issues.
Martha Cain said she will be watching county races, such as supervisors and tax assessor, “because they will affect jobs in our county.” However, she is also highly interested in Initiative 42 and plans to vote for the measure.
The constitutional amendment, if approved by voters, would require the state to provide “an adequate and efficient system of free public schools” and would allow citizens to sue in chancery court to have the mandate enforced. Supporters of the citizen-led initiative say it is designed to ensure that the Legislature fully funds the Mississippi Adequate Education Program, a formula that is supposed to give schools enough money to meet midlevel accreditation standards. MAEP has been fully funded only twice since its adoption in 1997.
“I am a product of the public school system in Carroll County and proud of it,” said Cain, a 62-year-old former library assistant. “When I-42 passes, as I hope it does, it may not immediately show results but would be a good start. All children should have access to the best education they can possibly have, no matter where they live or who they are.”
Carrollton Mayor Russell Wilson said he is heavily focused on the races in Beats 1 and 2, where first-time supervisors will be elected. In Beat 1, Jim Neill, who ousted longtime incumbent Honey Ashmore in the Democratic primary, is facing independent Bill Gardner. In Beat 2, Democrat Terry Brown and Republican Marty Wiggins are vying to replace Terry Herbert, who is retiring.
“We are going to greatly miss the relationships we have had with both Honey and Terry,” said Wilson.
Wilson said he is also very interested in the District 46 House race, where Republican Karl Oliver of Winona and Democrat Ken Strachan of North Carrollton are competing to fill the seat being vacated by the retirement of Rep. Bobby Howell.
District 46 encompasses portions of Carroll, Leflore, Grenada and Attala counties as well as all of Montgomery County.
Wilson was critical of what he described as the “negative campaigning” by the Democratic Party in support of its nominee, Strachan, the current Carroll County coroner and former mayor of North Carrollton.
Rather than benefitting Strachan, according to Wilson, the tactic has “really swung what would have been a competitive race into a large Republican victory.”
Cain said, however, that she was backing Strachan in the race because “if it’s at all possible to pull jobs our way, I believe he will.”
Stanton said there has been a lot of confusion about Initiative 42 and the alternative proposed by lawmakers, 42-A.
Stanton encouraged voters “to educate themselves on Initiative 42, as it is pretty lengthy on the ballot.”
The county appears to be heavily split on the question.
School Superintendent Billy Joe Ferguson is encouraging people to vote for Initiative 42, citing cuts in funding for the state’s schools that he said have affected Carroll’s ability to educate students.
“Carroll schools have 40 percent of its buses over 15 years old. Many computers are outdated. Textbooks are old and short in numbers. There is a shortage of staff, all because our state leaders have cut our funds $3.6 million since 2009,” he said. “I have never seen, nor can I hardly believe, the arrogance and insensitivity shown by Mississippi’s leadership toward our children.”
Vaiden Mayor Melvin Hawthorne said the state’s education system has been lagging too long and believes Initiative 42 could get Mississippi moving in the right direction.
“I hate that our legislators let it come to this, but if this is what it takes to improve our education system, I support it,” he said.
Sandy Downs, a retired schoolteacher who describes herself as “very conservative,” said she plans, however, on voting against Initiative 42.
Wilson, the Carrollton mayor, also has his reservations.
“I fully believe in the premise of funding public education,” he said. “The concern I have now is, as I understand it, it takes the funding authority from our Legislature and hands it to the court and a judge. No one man should be given such authority of that magnitude. Even our federal government, for all its faults currently, recognizes no one person should have that authority.”
The Rev. Eddie Carpenter, pastor of Malmaison Baptist Church, was hoping for divine guidance on the eve of balloting.
He said he would “ask that people pray that God would lead them to make the right decisions when they vote.”
