Jackson Jambalaya

Hinds County District 4 Election Commissioner fired off a letter to Clarion=Ledger reporter Terricha Bradley-Phillips. The reporter wrote a story Saturday stating Supervisor Robert Graham was "investigating" alleged complaints about the elections last week. Earlier post. She also reported Election Commissioner Jermel Clark questioned whether the machines were tampered with after he was clobbered in his re-election bid by 65%-35%. Mrs. Cochran wrote:

"I am Connie Cochran, Election Commissioner for Hinds County District 4.

I am totally amazed about the article that was reported in the Clarion Ledger this morning.

First, the fact that a sitting Election Commissioner, Jermal Clark, does not know the proper procedure for filing an election complaint, is no surprise to me. After 8 years on the Commission, he should know a formal complaint is not filed with the Hinds County Board of Supervisors. Instead it should be filed with the Hinds County Circuit Clerk.

Statute 23-15-951 addresses the procedure for filing a petition of contest. ".....a person desiring to contest the election of another person returned as elected to any office within any county, may, within twenty (20) days after the election, file a petition in the office of the clerk of the circuit court of the county, setting forth the grounds upon which the election is contested; and the clerk shall thereupon issue a summons to the party whose election is contested................"

I wish to inform you that Jermal Clark observed all functions of the logic and accuracy testing on the voting machines for Clark's district, done by his machine technician. He helped proof all the ballot tapes from each master machine in his district, for accuracy. After the process was completed, security seals were placed on each machine and the serial numbers from those seals were recorded. The machines were then placed in a room and locked. They were not touched again until Clark's technician delivered the machines to the voting precincts or were picked up by the precinct poll manager.

Before the election began on November 6, all managers across the county were to record the seal number of each machine in their respective precinct.

There was also a "reset" tape attached to the top of all voting machines that stated the machine was set to pre-election, with the public count of that machine. Each poll manager is trained to contact the Election Commission office, prior to 7 AM the day of the election to report any discrepancies. We received no calls concerning this issue!

There is also an audit log in each machines that can tell everything that was done on the machine on any given day. A reprint of each vote cast on the machine can be printed, in random order, so the voter's identity is protected.

I guess I am to understand that because Clark did not win any of the precincts in his district, he believes the machines were tampered with?

As far as Graham and his statement "We're counting affidavits and absentees now, and the process may not finish until next week", who is we? The last time I checked he was not an Election Commissioner! He is a supervisor, and as such, has absolutely no say in the process of conducting an election, other than dealing with the budget. He can observe the process, but that is it.

As has been said many times by the Board of Supervisor members, when there have been grievances brought to them by Election Commissioners, they have no jurisdiction over the Election Commission.

And, are the other members of the Board of Supervisors aware of Graham's actions? Does there not need to be a vote by them for him to act on their behalf?

The Election Commissioners are elected officials of Hinds County, we are in charge of conducting the election.

Graham has made several misleading statements the last week or so, and obviously does not understand the processes involved, from the Circuit Clerk's office or Election Commission office.