With a busy election season ahead this year, Pike County officials discussed a host of voting matters Monday morning, including purged voter rolls, precinct changes and pollworker compensation.
District 2 Supervisor Sam Hall noted that some residents have been moved from one district to another as a result of redistricting last year and said they should be made aware of that with plenty of notice.
County and state elections are this year, with primaries in August and general election in November
“Do we have a list of all of the changes?” Hall asked election commissioners. “We need to make sure people get that in time.”
“I have approached (Circuit Clerk) Roger Graves about that and that was a concern of mine,” Election Commissioner Danny Creel said.
He wants the county to send new voter registration cards to every registered voter because of changes brought on by redistricting.
Election Commissioner Staci Ott said voters won’t necessarily have to change precincts, but they might find themselves in a different district for supervisor, justice court and legislative seats.
“The lines changed,” Ott said.
Supervisor Robert Accardo, a former election commissioner, said he spoke with the circuit clerk’s office in February “asking these same questions.”
“The circuit clerk’s office told me the new voter registration cards would be going out by May 30,” he said. “When databases are corrected, then the circuit clerk’s office wil be able to send out those cards.”
He said county officials are still waiting on updated voting information from municipalities before they can send out updated registration cards.
Creel, who is the Election Commission chairman, also noted that county officials have had to purge voter rolls because of state mandates, and hundreds of inactive voters may no longer be registered.
“It’s very important that folks know what their status is,” he said.
Creel said anyone who has been purged from the rolls but does not find out until Election Day can cast an affidavit ballot that, once verified, will serve as registration, although that’s likely to cause some grief.
“If you’re not active or you’re inactive and you have to vote affidavit, that stirs folks up a little bit,” he said.
Creel said the purges were done at the behest of state officials.
“The Secretary of State’s office is always looking at our records and we get reports and stats and, by law, we’re responsible to make sure those records are accurate,” he said.
Justin Lofton, a candidate for District 1 supervisor, asked if a list of purged voters was available, and Accardo referred him to the circuit clerk’s office.
Officials said the Secretary of State’s website, www.sos.ms.gov/yall-vote, can help people update voter registration and find their voting precinct.
In another matter, officials said they believe pay for pollworkers — about $125 a day — is insufficient, considering neighboring Louisiana pays $200, and legislation being considered this year might change that.
“We wouldn’t have a problem paying our pollworkers, but we’re limited statutorily what we can pay them right now,” Accardo said.
Election Commissioner Alicia Forrest said House Bill 1310 would raise for pollworkers’ compensation to about $200 a day, if approved.
District 1 Supervisor Tazwell Bowsky said the county needs to do more to make sure pollworkers are promptly paid. Election commissioners said they take care of the payroll documents as quickly as possible, but they have no control over when the checks get sent because other county officials handle that.
In another matter, supervisors also approved a contract that would move the voting precinct at Lifepoint Church of the Nazarene across Presley Boulevard to the Presley Event Center, which officials said had more adequate facilities.
“It’s not far from where the other location was, and if we put a sign up there it will be easier to access,” Forrest said.
Accardo stressed that the contract should indicate which days the county would need access for voting so the center doesn’t inadvertently get double booked.
“I gave her the dates, she has seen the dates,” Forrest said.
The contract would be for two years with the possibility of renewal.
