TYLERTOWN — Walthall County Circuit Clerk Vernon Alford told county supervisors Monday that a liquor referendum might appear on the November ballot, in addition to candidates for federal offices and several local elections.
He said a group had come to talk with him about a petition drive to get a liquor proposal on the ballot.
He said the group sought to include signatures gathered during the last drive to get a referendum on the ballot, and he told them they couldn’t do that.
“They said they thought they could, and I told them they’d have to duke that out with the attorney general or the secretary of state,” Alford said.
Board attorney Conrad Mord said old petitions would not be allowed because the signers from before could be deceased or might have moved from Walthall County, and signatures on such petitions have to be those of eligible voters.
Mord said liquor might not be the only question county voters are asked to support by petition.
“You hear lots of things, but I’ve heard now they want to move on both” liquor and beer, Mord said. By law, those questions must be petitioned and voted on separately.
Alford didn’t say when the petitions would be due, but they must be turned in time for he and his staff to verify the signatures on the petitions so the question or questions can be printed on the ballot.
Alford said the presidential race, both of Mississippi’s U.S. Senate seats and 3rd District congressional seat will be on the ballot.
He said no judicial seats would be on the ballot.
On the local level, all of the county’s election commission seats will be on the ballot for the next four-year term, as well as the District 5 school board seat held by Jeffre Conerly, which will be up for a six-year term.
Two special elections will also be on the November ballot, with the last three years of the District 5 seat on the board of supervisors up for grabs as well as the remaining four years of the term for the District 4 school board seat.
Supervisor Clennel Brown resigned just four months into the new term, after having been re-elected to the board in November. Former supervisor Clifton “Pop” Carr was appointed to serve as interim supervisor until November.
District 4 voters will fill the school board seat left vacant by the death of Eldredge Boyd in August. The remaining school board members interviewed several prospective interim candidates, but deadlocked when they voted.
The seat will remain unfilled until the election.
Alford said prospective candidates for the special elections and the regular school board election can pick up qualifying papers now, but the qualifying period won’t open until September.
