More details have come available regarding Democratic mayoral candidate Johnny Moore’s formal challenge to the results that saw him defeated by Democrat Lynn Spruill in the May 16 primary runoff.
On Friday, Moore officially filed a Petition For Election Contest with the Democratic Executive Committee that asserts that “numerous irregularities and willful violations of Mississippi election law occurred during the primary runoff election and during the computation of the primary runoff election results.”
Spruill was certified as the winner following several previously rejected affidavit ballots being accepted and put toward Moore’s total. Spruill finished with 1872 votes to Moore’s 1866.
Moore's legal counsel Williams Starks told the SDN Friday that the next would be to hold a hearing with the Democratic Executive Committee to present evidence, and then to file the petition in the judicial system. In order to have a judicial review in the circuit court, there is a 10-day window between filing the petition to the Committee and filing the petition in court.
Starks said the Executive Committee has to give five days notice of any hearing. If the deadline for the hearing is met, there would then be a special circuit court judge appointed and it would proceed with a hearing and an expedited trial. The election commissioners would act as a special tribunal to advise the judge during the trial.
Along with the submission of the petition, Moore’s legal counsel requested a special election be called if it becomes impossible to determine an outcome due to the commingling of illegal ballots with legal ballots.
AFFIDAVIT BALLOTS
The Starkville Municipal Committee on May 17 met to canvas and count affidavit ballots in the election primary runoff conducted the previous day.
Elections officials would go to accept 18 of the 42 affidavit ballots cast, while rejecting 24.
Moore’s petition claims at least one of the affidavit ballots is believed to have failed to comply with a mandatory provision that requires voters sign the affidavit receipt book.
This voter is also accused of not placing the ballot in the ballot envelope, opting to place it in the regular ballot box.
Moore’s team has identified what they believe to be nine affidavit ballots that should have been accepted, which could turn the tables for Moore if at least 6 are counted.
ABSENTEE BALLOTS
In the run-off primary, 287 absentee ballots were received by poll workers, with 269 ultimately being accepted.
The petition says an examination of the 18 rejected ballots will show that eight should have been accepted.
Additionally, Moore’s counsel claims to have identified more than 50 accepted absentee ballots that should have been rejected.
A list was then provided detailing reasons for why many of the accepted ballots were illegal.
These reasons include:
▪ Failure of the voter of witness to sign across the flap,
▪ The witness is not an eligible witness.
▪ The ballot application lacks the city clerk’s seal
▪ No witness signature on envelope
▪ The signature of the voter on the application and envelope do not match
▪ The application and envelope do not appear to be signed by the voter
▪ The voter’s name is not in the roll book, which requires an affidavit ballot be case
BALLOT ACCOUNTING
Much of the controversy seen - not just in the mayoral race, but the Ward 1 GOP Primary - came due to the city’s use of paper ballots and the problems that arise from a low-tech voting system.
The city previously said it opted for paper ballots as a cost saving measure.
The first deviation mentioned in Moore’s petition relating to ballot accounting claims a section of the law was not complied with which requires that a receipt by the manager who received the blank ballots be enclosed in the ballot box. The receipt should also be accompanied by a tally of total ballots voted, the number of “spoiled ballots,” and unused ballots - which is intended to show the totals corresponding with the receipt.
Moore’s legal counsel also claims there was a failure to comply with another law that requires executive committee members to throw out the entire ballot box if these failures make it impossible to arrive at the will of the voters in the precinct under question.
The petition asserts poll managers are required by state law to account for paper ballots and provide a written state if the ballot numbers do not correspond with the number of ballots received.
The Mississippi Secretary of State’s Office offers a non-mandatory “Paper Ballot Accounting Report,” and Moore’s counsel claims some precincts did not use the form while other poll precinct managers “make a futile attempt to account for the paper ballots, but did not account for all ballots received since there was no initial certification of how many ballots were received.”
What’s more, the petition claims poll managers did not account for discrepancies between the actual number of the votes cast and the receipt book and/or poll book.
MARKINGS ON PAPER BALLOTS
Like the Ward 1 GOP Primary, accusations of improperly handled ballots relating to signatures and writing were included in Moore’s petition.
Moore’s petition claims that numbers ballots counted contained improper and illegal distinguishing marks, including the signature of the voter or circles, arrows or stars, rather than the required “X’ or “V” marks allowed.
One example was provided in the petition claiming a vote in Ward 2 for Moore - containing the voter’s signature - was placed into the envelope for rejected ballots. However, Moore’s counsel alleges another ballot in the same precinct was counted for Spruill despite containing a signature of the voter.