By Billy Davis

Two incumbent election commissioners are among five who have qualified so far to run for Panola County election commissioner.

District 1 Commissioner Dorothy Kerney-Wilbourne and District 3 Commissioner Jimmy Herron have qualified for re-election according to qualifying documents provided to The Panolian.

Incumbent commissioners Julius Harris in District 2 and Jerry Perkins, from District 4, had not submitted their qualifying papers to the chancery clerk’s office last week.

The deadline is Monday, June 4 to qualify to appear on the General Election ballot in November.

The five-member Panola County Election Commission is a non-partisan body that oversees the general election following party primaries. The election commission also hires and trains poll workers, prepares ballot boxes and voting machines, and purges the voter rolls.

The county election commission works separately from the Democratic and Republican election committees, which train poll workers and hold elections for their respective primaries.

For many years the county election commission has performed its work behind the scenes. But accusations of alleged election problems have dogged commissioners during their most recent term.

The election commission experienced a showdown with some local residents last fall, when commissioners were meeting to choose poll workers for the November 8 general election.

An organized group attended the meeting, which is open to the public, where they confronted commissioners about the Como precinct. Poll watchers from inside and outside Panola County have cited numerous instances of election problems, and possible voter fraud, at that precinct.  

Pressed to address the problems at Como, commissioners admitted that they had not obtained a copy of a Secretary of State’s report about Como’s precinct. A state poll watcher had sat through an election day at Como in 2009, listing numerous problems he observed.  

The showdown also raised the issue of selecting poll workers, when commissioners voted to increase the number of poll workers at Como over Wilbourne’s objection.

Wilbourne also objected when commissioners voted to add a poll worker who was not on her personal list.
At the same meeting, Wilbourne and Herron removed a family member from their list of poll workers when pressured to do so.

The county election commission also includes chairman Ronald McMinn, who is not seeking re-election for the District 5 seat.

With McMinn bowing out, the up-for-grabs District 5 seat has created some activity: Bonnie Land, a former election commissioner, has qualified to run along with Edith Cole and Deliley Gatson.

Land formerly served as District 4 election commissioner until Perkins, a former county supervisor, defeated her in 2008.

Land has since moved to District 5 in Batesville.

Cole said last week she is making her first run at public office, though she is well known to political candidates who seek her help to win black support in west Batesville.

Cole has also butted heads with others over Election Day issues. She said last year she carries people to the polls but denied telling them who to vote for or getting paid to help candidates.  

When poll watchers complained of her actions last August, Cole told The Panolian that she can’t place her finger on election machine buttons “but I can put somebody else’s finger on the button.”

Gatson is an instructor at the Finch-Henry Job Corps Center in Batesville. She lives on Hunters Parkway in east Batesville.