Ward 3 voters have weighed in twice. But the Hinds County Circuit Court could ask them to do so again.
Joyce Jackson, who lost by 156 votes this week in a runoff for the Jackson City Council, on Friday filed a lawsuit contesting the election.
She contends poll workers at several precincts violated election laws by assisting voters and in some cases coaching them to vote for the eventual winner, LaRita Cooper-Stokes. Jackson says election officials also allowed Cooper-Stokes’ supporters to campaign for her within 150 feet of the building, which is illegal.
“We don’t know how this election would have turned out” if the law had been followed, said John Reeves, Jackson’s attorney. “You expect some of these shenanigans from the candidates. You don’t expect it from the poll workers.”
Most of the allegations occurred at Institutional AME Church, where Cooper-Stokes bested Jackson about 3 to 1. The lawsuit says a radio was left on all day at the precinct, allowing voters to hear Cooper-Stokes’ campaign ads while they cast their ballots.
Poll workers also allegedly offered assistance to voters when none was requested. By law, assistance only can be granted to people who are blind, disabled or illiterate, and only if they ask.
If a poll worker offered unsolicited help, “a lot of people, particularly elderly people would not know how to respond to that,” Reeves said. “Some would be intimidated by that. It literally robs the voter of his own free will.”
The lawsuit also says the poll manager there used a racial epithet to describe people with mixed racial heritage, like Jackson.
None of the poll workers is named.
Cooper-Stokes reiterated Friday that she is unaware that anything illegal occurred.
“That is certainly her prerogative as a candidate,” Cooper-Stokes said of the court challenge. “I don’t have any knowledge of anything that she’s alleging, so that’s all I can say about that.”
Reeves said her swearing in will not affect the lawsuit; because she won the election, she is supposed to take office unless a court issued an injunction, which is rare.
Other precincts had similar issues to Institutional AME, the lawsuit says.
At Wells Memorial United Methodist Church, where Cooper-Stokes won 90 percent of the ballots cast, voters allegedly were told to “push here” on a button indicating a vote for Cooper-Stokes. At Faith Presbyterian Church, where votes were split about 60-40, a poll worker allegedly coached people to vote for Cooper-Stokes.
The suit says a Jackson police officer shuttled two or three people to Medgar Evers Municipal Library, another precinct where workers were offering unsolicited help to voters.
Reeves, who has handled numerous election challenges all over the state, said the same issues are prevalent across Mississippi.
“Poll workers are terribly untrained, and apparently underpaid,” Reeves said. “And, just simply unaware of what they’re supposed to be doing to run these elections.”
“You expect some of these shenanigans from the candidates. You don’t expect it from the poll workers.”
Attorney John Reeves
Written by Brian Eason | Clarion Ledger
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