Tuesday, November 7, 2023

Hinds Polls Stay Open Til 8, Appeal Filed

 Just when you think the Hinds County Election Commission can't screw things up any worse, they go and show they can indeed do so.  Secretary of State Michael Watson announced: 

The Secretary of State’s Office is aware of ballot availability issues at Hinds County precincts. While our office has no statutory authority to print nor distribute ballots to counties, we have been in constant communication with the local officials to assist in relaying complaints from our Elections Hotline and have dispersed poll observers to the area.

For the General Election, Mississippi law charges counties to print 60% of the active voter count. County officials then decide how to distribute ballots among precincts. While we are happy to assist in any capacity, specific questions related to ballot distribution should be directed to the Hinds County Election Commission.

Further, the Secretary of State's Office does not have statutory authority to extend polling hours. All voters in line at the closing of the polls are legally entitled to cast a ballot.

The Mississippi Democratic Party sued for a temporary restraining order in Hinds County Chancery Court late this afternoon.  The complaint named the Hinds County Election Commission and Circuit Clerk as defendants.  The complaint states:

Because a large number of precincts in Hinds County ran out of ballots during election day and are continuing to run out of ballots, leading to long lines, extensive delays, and voters leaving the polling places without voting, this Court should issue an order requiring the Defendants Hinds County Election Commission and the Hinds County Circuit Clerk to extend the voting hours from 7 PM to 8 PM in all precincts. Although additional ballots were eventually delivered to the polling places, many voters who left the precincts because they could not vote will not be able to return until after 7 PM.

The shortage of ballots is still a problem. The Byram 1 precinct ran out of ballots mid­ afternoon and it is unknown when they can be replaced. Others may run out between now and 7 PM.

 Hinds County Chancellor Dewayne Thomas ordered: 

A number of precincts in Hinds County ran out of ballots during election day and are continuing to run out of ballots and others may run out going forward.  It takes time to deliver more ballots to the precincts. Because of the disruption this has caused, the Court grants the motion of the Plaintiff to extend the closing hours in Hinds County from 7 PM to 8 PM.  The Defendants did not take a position in response to the motion but acknowledged that several precincts had run out of  ballots.

Accordingly, the Hinds County Election Commission and the Hinds County Circuit Clerk are hereby ORDERED to extend the closing hours for all precincts from 7 PM to 8 PM.

Trouble began early this morning when the McCloud Elementary precinct ran out of ballots before 9 AM. The problems just spread from there.  

Sarah Ulmer tweeted: 

  We are hearing from a direct source that an appeal has been filed to prevent the extension of voting in Hinds County. It will be up to the Mississippi Supreme Court to determine whether or not the 8:00 p.m. extension will be allowed. The source says poll worker have been instructed to segment out votes that are cast after 7:00 p.m. #mselex


 Kingfish note:  Some will think election hijinks are going on but frankly, what is more likely is gross incompetence.  Trust me, the members of the Election Commission are dumb, I mean really dumb.  However, this is what the voters want.  They kicked Connie Cochran off a few years ago, the only member who know how to use the computers, SEMS, and enter the data.  They replaced Renee Shakespeare with Jermel, a true idiot if there ever was one.    This is par for the course and the reason why the parties have at times taken elections away from the Commission.

29 comments:

Anonymous said...

Expect voting "anomalies" from Hinds county.

Anonymous said...

Jackson Mississippi....nuff said

Anonymous said...

Kingfish- Thank you for calling them what they are "DUMB"...this is incompetence x10000...

Anonymous said...

When, what does it take before we are no longer fearful of pointing a finger and making the statement that the elected officials of Hinds County (as well as numerous others), which are a cross section of the county, do not have the intellectual capacity to deal with situations such as elections? To what lows must that culture sink before we admit they just can't handle day to day life?

Anonymous said...

"However, this is what the voters want."

Sure this is what they want. Their incompetence gets them an extra hour of Democrat votes.

They just can't help it. Incompetence and cheating – it’s just who Democrats are.

Anonymous said...

Incompetence is also easily bought by outside funding with the sole purpose to flip Mississippi blue. Funny how these things very seldom, if ever, happen in Republican strongholds. Either they value election integrity, or they are more competent. I bet it’s a combination of both.

Anonymous said...

Where can we watch the results come in online? Can’t find it on the MS SOS website

Anonymous said...

Come on? I know they’re incompetent but we saw this ploy in the 2020 election when the swing States stopped counting votes so it could determine how many ballots were needed to counter Trump’s leads. This just so happens in 2023 in the most populous Democrat leaning county in the State of MS? Baloney.

Anonymous said...

Never underestimate the inability of the incompetent.

Anonymous said...

You can't make this shit up.

Anonymous said...

Prime example - see Commissioner Shirley Varnado's brief interview on WLBT. A fucking idiot.

LoMo said...

@Kingfish - I truly enjoy your blog and even donate, but I'm never sure why you're constantly shitting on a city and county that you and I both live in. I certainly agree that there is - at a minimum - extreme room for improvement at all levels, and I am by no means an Antar fan, but it seems at times like you want to just move to Madison or Rankin. Honest question.

Anonymous said...

Here come da jurdge. But he had NO business extending the voting hour end-time (which is state law).

He should have denied the filing and let the Secretary of State's office deal with it tomorrow.

We have far too much interference from the judiciary.

Anonymous said...

McLeod ran out of ballots before 9 am? Ballots for 60% of registered voters were present when polls opened as required by law?! LMAO

Anonymous said...

“ I truly enjoy your blog and even donate, but I'm never sure why you're constantly shitting on a city and county that you and I both live in. “
November 7, 2023 at 8:22 PM
——————————

So instead of pointing out all the things that are holding Jackson back, people should just bend over and accept it? Especially if they live in said city? wow

Anonymous said...

7:55 wrote:

"[W]e saw this ploy in the 2020 election when the swing States stopped counting votes so it could determine how many ballots were needed to counter Trump’s leads."

And the reason no one has been able to prove any such conspiracy is because the Democratic party, writ large, is not only smart and well-organized enough to pull off such a massive, multi-state conspiracy, but also to destroy all of the evidence of it?

Those Democrats must geniuses, and masters at organization and discipline.

Anonymous said...

I agree with your assessment. The commission is charged to have at least 60% of the active voters in each precinct. But, the only way to insure you have enough ballots is to have 100% of the active.voters. Yes, the precinct does have to account for the extra if there any but that is doable. Your are correct about Jemel. He is not only dumb as a dozen of donuts but is a jerk as well.

LoMo said...

@8:42 p.m. - Not at all. As I said in my previous post, I am certainly not a fan of the current administration, or the way things have been run here (in Jackson and Hinds) for many years. My point was that - as a lifelong Jacksonion - I'm not sure why Kingfish is piling on against a city he lives in. Again, I truly respect him and all he does - but there's a weird crossroads between legitimate criticism, and the usual pile-on of "I live in Madison/Rankin, Jackson is a piece of shit, Jafrica, Jackghanistan," etc. I know the city and the county have a ton of issues, but it's where I've lived for 40 years. I don't think it's beyond saving. And...cue the inevitable "I live in Madison/Rankin County" comments - which, again, good for you, and I very well may move to one of those counties in the future. But just dumping on Jackson and Hinds is pretty old hat here. Congrats, you don't live here. Good for you. I do.

Anonymous said...

857. No. The commission is required to have 60% of the REGISTRTED VOTERS, not 'active'

And if they had done that, there would have been no problem.

None of the precincts with ballot shortages even approached 50% turnout.

The problem here is that the commission doesn't know how to do basic math - except of course when they are trying to add up ways to increase their daily pay from the Supervisors.

Clinton 2 precinct has over 3000 registered voters. They ran out of ballots (the first time) at 11 o'clock this morning.

If you believe they had 1,800 voters after being open only four hours, I've got some great timber deeds (secured of course with notarized deeds of trust) to sell you at a guaranteed 13% return.

Hell, they didn't have 1500 votes by the end of the night - Even after the bus decked put with Black Votes Matter banners and blaring their loud music pulled up and unloaded after 7.

Anonymous said...

I told my wife Monday before the election that if I were in charge of Republicans or Democrats, I would prepare a filing for Hinds County and have it ready to go Tuesday. They were installing brand new machines and they had been short of poll workers. A reason for multiple errors. Why did they not have printers at each precinct and back up ones. These are not expensive printers. My county had one that printed out the ballot when you signed in. All you need is to have paper and extra paper to keep from running out. Wonder who had the contract for a printer to print over 50,000 ballots and differing ones depending on the site. And evidently, someone cannot count.

Anonymous said...

I am shocked, SHOCKED!, I say, to learn that both the Hinds County election officials AND the MSGOP managed to fuck up and make fools of themselves over the exact same issue. A few precincts in Hinds were not going to get Presley in or Tater out yet both sides had to put on national display why Mississippi is first in the race for last place and last in race for first place. And whatever Jess might have been 20 years ago, he ain't dat no mo.

Here's an interesting legal argument: many of these folks were in line to vote long before 7PM, many before 12 noon, but a lack of ballots prevented them from so doing. If a reasonable person went to the grocery for milk and were told none was in stock, a reasonable person would not stand in front of the cooler hoping milk would magically appear. Therefore, some number of "turn-aways" are entitled to vote - and have their votes count - whenever the ballot is made (reasonably) available to them. Those voters were in compliance with state law (or had the intent to comply with it), but "the state" was out-of-compliance with its own law. Moreover, it is being alleged that some unknown number of potential voters who intended to comply were discouraged from their plan to vote by 7PM because of information from numerous sources (i.e., social media, media reports, word-of-mouth, etc.) that ballots were unavailable. In a just world, the officials responsible for any of it would be removed from office (or fired) along with other sanctions, and an extension granted to allow any Hinds County or other Mississippi voter previously registered and affected by ballot unavailability 24-48 hours to easily obtain a ballot, vote, and those ballots counted as true and proper. No, it won't change the results but the rights of citizens must be respected, whether it is to vote, own guns, peacefully assemble, seek redress, or any other right. To put it in Chancery terms, those who would seek equity must be prepared to do equity.

Anonymous said...

The demoncrats are "disenfranchising" their own.

Anonymous said...

They can't pour piss out of a boot with the instructions on the bottom in Hinds County.

Anonymous said...

Fastest way to get drunk on election night?
Turn the Hinds County election into a sip-when-screws-up game.
Everybody would be bombed by 10 am

What do you say to folks who just can't print enough ballots? Good grief. Nobody can be this slow.

Anonymous said...

November 7, 2023 at 9:25 PM, according to you, not talking about the shit show that is Jackson, will fix it.

I see that Kingfish has allowed two of your non-anonymous post. What you should do, if it's truly your opinion, is come here and pump Jackson until your heart's content.

I, and others, will come here, and if Kingfish allows, will likewise post our opinions. I assume you know free expression when you see it, and I think that free expression is what really bothers you. At least, that's my opinion.

Anonymous said...

@ 9:59 LoMo is part of the problem he obviously likes total chaos because he is quick to defend when constructive criticism is warranted. They protect and defend no matter what the situation is. Hinds County and the City of Jackson are one and the same but they elect a mayor that can't see to it that basic city services are provided and join hands to point the blame at someone else.

Anonymous said...

In Rankin County my ballot was printed for me after I signed in. Seems a pretty simple and cost-effective solution.

Anonymous said...

@11:44 AM, Mine too. First time voter in Rankin County and thought that it was cool.

Anonymous said...

We need a redo . I stood in line for 4 hours and still couldn't vote. I feel like this was a voting suppression. It's not fair


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If you get tired come relax at the Fox News Tent. To gain admittance to the VIP section, bring either your Republican Party ID card or a Rebel Flag. Bringing both will entitle you to free drinks.Get your tickets now. Since this is an event for trolls, no ID is required, just bring the hate. Bring the family, Trollfest '07 is for EVERYONE!!!

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