State Rep. Willie Perkins Sr. has been disqualified from representing his daughter, Takiyah Perkins, in her lawsuit over her loss to Carol White-Richard in last November’s Circuit Court election runoff.
Takiyah Perkins announced her decision to challenge the results from the runoff for the Fourth Judicial Circuit’s Place 3 seat shortly after White-Richard was declared the winner by a 77-vote margin.
The two had been vying to replace retiring Judge Betty Sanders.
The motion to disqualify Willie Perkins Sr. from representing his daughter argues that he signed, notarized or witnessed absentee ballots cast in the runoff and is therefore a “necessary and likely witness” to the case.
The motion was approved in September by Andrew K. Howorth, the judge in the Third Judicial District appointed to hear the case.
The initial complaint, authored by Willie Perkins Sr., argues that voters in the Place 3 subdistrict were moved to other precincts when the Leflore County Board of Supervisors redistricted the county in 2012, even though the judicial district’s lines hadn’t been altered by the Legislature since 1994.
White-Richard’s response alleges that Takiyah Perkins and her brother, Willie Perkins Jr., illegally cast ballots in the runoff and that Perkins’ campaign staff actively solicited absentee votes for Perkins in violation of the “letter and/or spirit” of state election laws.
The Fourth Judicial District covers Leflore, Sunflower and Washington counties and is divided into four subdistricts for electing judges. The Place 3 seat includes most of southern Leflore County — including South Greenwood, Morgan City and Itta Bena — as well as parts of Indianola, Moorhead and Inverness in Sunflower County and Hollandale in Washington County.
• Contact Nick Rogers at 581-7235 or nrogers@gwcommonwealth.com.
