By Billy Davis

Despite a mistake that led to a missed deadline, the names of incumbent election commissioners and several opponents can appear on the November 4 ballot, a spokesman for the state attorney general’s office has said.

Per Mississippi law, each candidate for election commissioner must file a petition bearing 50 qualified electors’ signatures with the chancery clerk’s office. Each petition must be filed 60 days before Election Day, a deadline that came this year on September 5.

With the petition properly filed, the chancery clerk then forwards it to the circuit clerk’s office so the signatures can be checked against the voter rolls.

Panola Chancery Clerk Jim Pitcock described the mistake, then took partial blame for it, last Thursday when county supervisors met for their budget hearing.

According to Pitcock, he erred when he asked supervisors a week earlier to approve the single petition his office had received. The other candidates’ petitions, meanwhile, were located in the circuit clerk’s office and had never been filed with the chancery clerk.

“Have I confused y’all totally?” Pitcock quipped following a lengthy explanation of the mistake.  

Board president Gary Thompson, who was aware of the situation, informed those present that he had contacted the attorney general’s office and been assured that the election should proceed.

“They said put everybody’s name on the ballot,” Thompson said.

Attorney General Jim Hood confirmed the advice to Thompson and the county in a statement sent late Monday to The Panolian.

“We advised the board that one potential option in this matter was to go ahead and qualify candidates who otherwise qualified except for the small technical mistakes made,” Hood said.

The attorney general said anyone “aggrieved” by that decision can appeal the decision to county supervisors.

Thompson said after the meeting that Reid called the attorney general’s office, and he and Reid both spoke with Partridge about the ballot.

The November 4 ballot will include a pair of contested races for election commissioner in two districts.

 In District 1, the commissioner’s seat is being sought by candidates Dorothy Kerney-Wilbourn, Joseph L. Wesley and Teresa Wallace.

District 1 election commissioner Vivian Burkley did not seek re-election to the seat, said District 1 Supervisor James Birge.

In District 4, commissioner Bonnie Land will face former supervisor Jerry Perkins.

Election commissioners Julius Harris (District 2), Jimmy Herron (District 3) and Ronald McMinn (District 5) did not draw challengers.

Mississippi law authorizes the election of five election commissioners, one from each supervisor beat or district, to oversee general elections and special elections. The role is sometimes confused with partisan party officials who are elected by the respective county parties and who oversee party primaries.

In Panola County, the role of election commissioner is rarely noticed beyond the courthouse but is nonetheless important, since members are entrusted with preserving the integrity of the election process.  

Panola County’s election commissioners do not draw a salary but receive a per diem fee of $85 per day and last year became eligible for county health insurance.

Land appeared at the budget meeting and informed supervisors that her petition had been turned in to Pitcock in January and was certified by Reid.

Citing her opponent’s petition, which had been handled by Pitcock, she took a political shot at the former supervisor by questioning his qualifications for election procedures.

“As an ex-supervisor he should have known correct procedure,” she said, citing that argument as her “campaign message” in coming months.

But Pitcock responded that Perkins had turned in his petition on time and the error had come when Pitcock mistakenly asked supervisors to approve it instead of forwarding it to Reid’s office.

“That was my fault,” he said.

Land addressed Pitcock and Thompson as she compared her proper conduct with the obvious mistakes that had been made.

“These slip-ups show the public that we’re not on top of our game,” she said, which led Thompson to recount his conversation with the attorney general’s office.  

Land began to interrupt Thompson, and was told to sit down by the board president, when he described the instructions from the attorney general’s office.

“I just want you to be aware that mine was done January 28th,” Land said.

“Are you trying to say your name should be the only one on the ballot?” Thompson asked.

“No,” she replied.

“I’m sorry I’m not on top of my game,” Pitcock told Land. “I admit my mistakes and will continue to make mistakes.”

Pitcock added, however, that the certification process for election commissioners is unlike any other public office.

“It’s only done every four years,” he said.