By Rupert Howell
and Billy Davis

“It’s over,” Ronald McMinn, Panola County’s election commission chairman, said Tuesday.

He was referring to confirmation from the Mississippi Attorney General’s office that a 20-day deadline had passed and Sheriff Otis Griffin had not contested the election in that time.

McMinn was also referring to another point — that the Election Commission does not have authority to hold a new election once an election is certified and the 20-day deadline has passed.

McMinn had received a letter from Griffin sometime Monday that requested a new sheriff election. The letter was addressed to all election commissioners.

Griffin was defeated by retired Highway Patrolman Dennis Darby by 135 votes.

A canvassing, or examination of affidavit and absentee ballots, was held for two days during the past two weeks but few errors were found in the number of votes. Had enough errors been found to affect the election’s outcome, a judicial review would have been eminent.

Griffin was apparently acting on his own. Clarksdale attorney Bill Luckett, who represented Griffin during the canvassing, told The Panolian he was unaware of any court filings sent to the circuit clerk or to election commissioners.   

Panola County Circuit Clerk Joe Reid also received a copy of the letter sent to McMinn and it was Reid who contacted the Attorney General’s office over the legal issue of properly contesting an election.

Reid had received the one-page letter from Griffin instead of a court filing to announce the outgoing sheriff was contesting the election.

McMinn said to contest an election, a request for judicial review must be filed in Circuit Court.
The election commission chairman explained that unlike party primaries, the general election is handled through a circuit judge appointed by the Mississippi Supreme Court.

Party primary reviews are held through a tribunal of the county election commissioners similar to the recent District 2 supervisor election between Vernice Avant and challenger William Pride.

McMinn confirmed that Monday, November 28 was the last day to file a notice requesting a judicial review and stated that the letter was not a proper court document — it was notarized, certified or properly delivered.

Other election commissioners had not received a copy according to McMinn.

McMinn produced a copy of the letter at The Panolian’s request. In the notice signed by Griffin, seven reasons are listed for a new election — “none of which had to do with any ballots that I can figure out,” McMinn noted.

McMinn and Reid had awaited an Attorney General’s opinion then notified election commissioners and Griffin before revealing the outcome of the letter’s request or its content.

Griffin’s reasons to hold a new election included:
—Observers saw people, other than the circuit clerk, inside the courthouse for long periods of time after the request had been made to canvass the ballot boxes. This was observed during hours that the courthouse should have been closed to the public;
—Serial numbers that were placed on some ballot boxes after the Nov. 8 election did not match during the canvassing on Nov. 18 and 23;
—Voting machine malfunctions at the precincts and in the Circuit Clerk Office’s on Nov. 8;
—Intimidation by Panola County election commissioners and voters to change poll workers in predominant black precincts. It was discovered during the same meeting that District 4, which is predominantly white, selected only two Black poll workers to work in the entire district. There are five precincts. Three of the five precincts had all white workers.
—Concerned about the increased number of votes received in District 4 precincts where only two Black poll workers were selected to work;
—Interference with the work of the Resolution Committee on November 8 from persons outside of Panola County’s voting area;
—Opponent’s campaign manager and workers were allowed to work on election day as poll workers.