By Rupert Howell
Supervisors approved 3-2 a John Thomas motion to “resurrect” a voting precinct in Crowder following a plea from Crowder mayor Stethan Stanton during Monday’s First District meeting in Sardis.

Stanton’s appearance was his second concerning adding the voting precinct and followed a meeting last month when former Circuit Clerk Joe Reid addressed the board noting the reasoning behind closing the Crowder and two other precincts during one of his terms of office.
Reid said Panola and other counties were advised by then Secretary of State Eric Clark to close precincts with low voter turnout as a means of reducing election day costs.

Election commissioner Kaye Smith who attended last month’s meeting along with Reid was also present during Stanton’s plea Monday and told supervisors that approximately 60 people voted in that precinct during the last election held there.

District Four supervisor and board president Kelly Morris was one of two voting against adding the precinct and told the Crowder mayor that costs was the board’s objection to reopening. He also explained that laws allowing absentee voting up to 45 days prior to an election should make it possible for anybody who qualified to vote absentee an opportunity to vote without having to make a special trip to the courthouse.

Stanton’s plea cited elderly voters having to travel up to nine miles to vote.
“Most folks don’t like to drive that far to buy groceries,” he stated.

“We (the city of Crowder) do not ask for a whole lot,” Stanton said noting that he had only been to the board of supervisors on three occasions.

“The first time was to introduce myself and the next two is about a voting place,” the mayor said.

In his earlier appeal, Stanton noted that Crowder was the only municipality in Panola County without a voting precinct.

Thomas’ motion had the support of District Two supervisor Vernice Avant and District One supervisor James Birge. District Five supervisor Five Cole Flint voted with Morris against the motion.

Attorney Bill McKenzie was instructed to begin the process and said he would contact Mike Slaughter of Slaughter and Associates who was responsible for the county’s latest redistricting plans, to handle the details of drawing lines for the precinct’s boundaries.