The Leflore County Circuit Clerk’s office received two complaints last Tuesday accusing City Attorney James Littleton of trying to intimidate and harass voters during the primary elections.
The incidents allegedly occurred at the Ward 1 precinct, according to Circuit Clerk Trey Evans, who fielded the complaints.
Evans said the complainants accused Littleton of questioning voters of the predominantly white ward about what primary they were voting in.
“He was stereotyping white voters,” Evans said of Littleton. “Very few people on election day are going to walk into a polling precinct wearing a T-shirt that reads ‘I love being a Republican.’”
Mississippi holds open primaries, meaning anyone, regardless of political party affiliation, can vote in either a Democratic or Republican primary.
On Thursday morning, Littleton denied the accusations.
“I did not do that,” he said. “That is inaccurate.”
Littleton pointed out that the Ward 1 precinct had no Republican primary Tuesday. Johnny Jennings, the Republican councilman from that ward, was on a primary ballot but did not have an opponent.
The city attorney did not respond to other messages left for him Thursday afternoon or Friday.
Greenwood Mayor Sheriel Perkins faced challengers George Ellis and Rogrick Wardell in the Democratic primary Tuesday. Though Perkins overwhelmingly won overall, Ellis took Ward 1, garnering 58 votes, to Wardell’s 41 and Perkins’ 34.
Littleton spent part of Tuesday morning as a poll watcher for Perkins at the Ward 1 precinct, which is located at the old fire station on Claiborne Avenue in North Greenwood.
According to the poll manager, Willie Shepherd, the first voter of the day left the precinct without voting after being questioned by Littleton.
“He got so rattled, he just left without voting,” he said.
Shepherd would not identify the man but said he was “up in years.” He said the man returned later to vote, only to have his vote challenged by another one of Perkins’ poll watchers. The man ultimately voted by affidavit.
Shepherd said he personally saw Littleton question three white voters who came into the precinct to vote in the Democratic primary.
“He was asking people if they were going to vote Republican in the next election,” Shepherd said. “And naturally, they weren’t going to lie to him, so they told him, ‘Yes,’ they were.”
A person who votes in a party’s primary is required by state law to support that party’s nominations.
Shepherd, who has served as poll manager at the precinct for roughly a decade, said he confronted Littleton at the precinct.
“I see it as my job to not let people harass voters,” he said. “(Littleton) said he wasn’t harassing voters. I told him, ‘That’s your idea, but my idea is you are.’”
Shepherd said Littleton left the precinct not long after being questioned.
“It was nothing but wrong, and he knows that was wrong,” Evans said of Littleton. “He probably started realizing what he had done and backed off.”
