Three people have filed papers to run for McComb’s open Ward 4 city board seat, Mayor Quordiniah Lockley said.
A special election is set for Oct. 18 to fill the seat that became vacant when Selectman John Bates died earlier this month.
The filing deadline is next week, Sept. 28.
Candidates will run as independents in the special election. they must collect 50 signatures from qualified electors in order to qualify.
Former Ward 4 Selectman Shawn Williams, who came in third-place in May’s mayoral Democratic primary, turned in his paperwork; as did Eddie Thompson, who lost to Bates in a primary runoff; and Gerald Barnes who also ran in last May’s primary for the Ward 4 seat.
Lockley announced at Tuesday’s work session that he appointed Clifton Bryant, Trisha Ray and Jacqueline Martin as city “election inspectors” who will certify candidates after the qualifying deadline.
Bryant and Ray were inspectors for city elections earlier in the year.
“Anytime we have an election, the ordinance is clear, the mayor is responsible for appointing three inspectors,” Lockley said. “Those three inspectors have been appointed. Two of them are repeaters."
Lockley said the plan was to pay the inspectors $169 apiece and an additional $67 for each meeting. He said the inspectors had a meeting and would like to see Pike County’s election commissioners oversee the election.
“The inspectors met with the city clerk (Rose-zea Scott),” Lockley said. “The inspectors made it known it is their desire that the city would enter into a contract with the county to handle the election.
“Their reasoning is, one, that the county is probably trained on how to do an election. They have the equipment to do the election and they have people in place who have been trained for poll workers, poll managers and all that.
“They just think that it is better if we would allow them to handle the election.”
Lockley said the inspectors would review the qualifying paperwork and certify election results.
“They would have to vet the signatures,” he said. “The city clerk does not vet the signatures. The inspectors vet the signatures, but it’s their request.”
“Understand, they can’t make a contract or an agreement with the county,” Lockley added. “It has to come from the board, so that’s why they’re making the request to us. If we agree with that, then we would make the request to (Circuit Clerk) Roger Graves and the Pike County Election Commission.”
Lockley said Summit Mayor Percy Robinson recalled having positive experiences with the election commission during the town’s election last year.
“They had the county to handle it and he was very pleased with their performance,” Lockley said.
He did not have an exact figure on how much having the county oversee the election would cost.
“We are going into enter into a contract,” he said. “Based on our conversations that we’ve had, it should not exceed $4,000, but we don’t have anything in writing as of yet.”
