I got my first behind-the-scenes look at our democratic process on Wednesday night.
My conclusion: Watching vote canvassing is not for those who become bored quickly.
Incumbent Mayor Carolyn McAdams faced challenger Sheriel Perkins in Tuesday’s general election. Perkins was trying to regain the job she lost to McAdams in the 2009 election.
When the machine count was tallied on Tuesday night, McAdams led by 228 votes. But there were still more than 700 absentee, affidavit and curbside ballots to be counted. The Greenwood Election Commission began canvassing those votes on Wednesday morning at the Leflore County Courthouse.
Staff Writer Bob Darden kept checking in at the courthouse throughout the day. We had a series of conversations like this:
Me: “Bob, is anything happening over there yet?”
Bob: “No.”
Shortly before 7 p.m., I went to the courthouse. My plan was to talk with one of the election officials and find out why we weren’t getting any results. I intended to learn when we might get some numbers and go home.
After talking to a couple of county officials who were there, I learned that no votes had been counted yet. But the consensus was that the counting would begin “soon.”
“This won’t be so bad,” I thought. “I’ll catch the last few minutes of the canvassing.” Wrong.
The Election Commission was doing its work in the Board of Supervisors meeting room. McAdams and her supporters were seated on the left. Perkins and her supporters were seated on the right. I was surprised by how many people were there.
These were hard-core supporters for both sides. The discussions I saw were always civil, but clearly passions were running high on both sides.
In spite of my good intentions, I was sucked into watching the canvassing. Several people described it as being like watching paint dry. I found the process engrossing, even if it wasn’t entertaining. (However, City Attorney Don Brock did amuse me with some off-the-record commentary.)
Here’s what I saw on Wednesday night. The audience sat facing the election commissioners, who were seated at the table where supervisors sit during their meetings. Commissioner Tish Goodman would unseal a ballot box and read the number on the seal. People in the audience would write down the number. Then Goodman would count ballots. People would write down the number of ballots.
Later, Goodman would count the number of absentee or affidavit ballots from a ward. Then she would tell how many had been accepted and rejected. The rejected ballots would be divided based on why they were rejected.
From time to time, Goodman would seal a ballot box and announce the number of the seal. People would write down that number. She would also count the number of ballots that were about to be tallied by the optical scanner in the circuit clerk’s office. People would write down more numbers.
It reminded me of watching fans keep score at a baseball game.
Much of the discussion I saw involved why some curbside ballots should be accepted or rejected. During an argument over these, I decided to leave to pick up something to eat.
I was gone about half an hour. I didn’t miss anything important. But not long after I returned, the same argument resumed. I used this break in the inaction as an opportunity to step out of the meeting room for a brief break.
I felt exhausted after watching this for an hour or so. Many of those present had been there much of the day. Both McAdams and Perkins looked drained. Who could blame them after hours of watching this high-stakes boredom?
Finally, the absentee ballots were tallied shortly before 10 p.m. The Election Commission announced that the 162 remaining affidavit and curbside ballots would be counted starting at 1 p.m. Thursday.
It didn’t matter, because the election was over. After the absentee ballots were counted, McAdams had an insurmountable lead
Once the affidavit and curbside ballots were counted Thursday, McAdams’ victory was official. She had 2,618 votes, or 52 percent, to Perkins’ 2,412, or 48 percent.
Congratulations to both McAdams and Perkins. Both women ran excellent races.
I have a few ideas on how we could streamline the electoral process.
We should eliminate most paper ballots. This is the 21st century, not the 18th. In the process, we should get rid of most absentee and all curbside ballots. The ballots are a continuing source of controversy and corruption.
Mississippi needs to have early voting, not absentee voting. There is a suspiciously high number of absentee ballots cast, and the secretary of state has identified this as a source of electoral mischief.
Absentee ballots should only be issued to physically handicapped voters (some of whom now vote curbside).
As for the rest of you, if you can’t get to the polling place on Election Day, you shouldn’t be able to vote. After all, to get a driver’s license, you have to go to the Highway Patrol office. Why should we allow a voter to do any less?
• Contact Charles Corder at 581-7241 or ccorder@gwcommonwealth.com.
