A candidate removed from the ballot in the Democratic primary for McComb Ward 5 selectman said an attorney general’s opinion he received from the Secretary of State’s office confirms his eligibility.
Bruce Mullins filed to run in the May 3 Democratic primary, but Democratic Executive Committee Chair Amanda Upchurch declared him ineligible because of his residency.
Mullins said he has lived in the same house for 15 years, but Upchurch said that since Mullins’ house was redistricted out of Ward 2 and into Ward 5 in January that he has not met the two-year residency requirement.
The decision means that incumbent Selectman Ronnie Brock is now unopposed for the Ward 5 seat, but Mullins is considering challenging the decision in court.
At Mullins’ request, Laura Courtney, senior attorney of the elections division for the Secretary of State’s Office, provided McComb City Clerk Elisha Ford with an attorney general’s opinion saying he should be able to run.
The April 30, 1991, opinion, requested by Sue Sautermeister of the Hinds County Election Commission on the same issue, reads, “A candidate whose residency is continuous and uninterrupted may apply his previous period of residency in his former district to the period he has resided in the newly created district to satisfy the residency requirements for holding office from such district.”
Upchurch could not be reached for comment Thursday, and Ford said local political parties determined which candidates are eligible to be on the ballot.
"We have no position,” Ford said, referring to the city. “Right now, what's going on, this is a party situation."
Mullins said the qualifying process has been disruptive. He noted how Democrats nearly had to run as independents because members of the McComb Democratic Executive Committee resigned.
Upchurch was the lone remaining member of the Democratic Executive Committee and new members were appointed the day before the March 1 filing deadline, enabling the Democratic primary to proceed.
In a statement posted to Facebook on Thursday, Mullins said he received a letter from Upchurch stating, ‘after carefully reviewing the residency from all aspects as it relates to the City of McComb redistricting your area puts you in a different time frame as a 2 year resident in ward 5, along with the Mississippi Code (23-15-300) requirement. … Unfortunately we informed you at this time you do not qualify for the office…We have decided to move forward with candidates who do qualify.’”
Mullins noted that former Ward 3 candidate A.C. Butler also was declared ineligible to run due to residency issues, leaving Devante Johnson, the incumbent, and Terri Waterman-Baylor, also Democrats, as the only remaining candidates.
“With some concern about the Committee’s decision, the Mississippi Secretary of State’s office was contacted to validate or invalidate that decision,” Mullins wrote. “According to a Senior Counsel in the Secretary of State’s office who confirmed to me, the McComb City Clerk, and to the Democratic Committee that there is no valid reason to keep my name off the May 3 ballot, the Democratic Committee completely ignored the comments of the Secretary of State’s office and excluded not only my name from Ward 5 but that of A.C. Butler in Ward 3 for basically the same reasons.
“Keep in mind that I am not giving up, but in the event that I am not able to resolve the issue through the courts, I wanted those of you who support me to know why you won’t see my name on the ballot on May 3, 2022.”
