After the Board of Supervisors’ Meeting on 31 May 2011, I had a conversation with a gentleman who identified himself as Gu (goo). I guess that’s how it’s spelled. Gu was apparently present for the Redistricting Presentation put on by "Concerned Citizens for a Better Tunica County" and "Southern Echo".
Seems Gu was more then a bit upset by what I had said at the Public Hearings on Redistricting. The gist of what he was saying was that Voter Registration and Redistricting has nothing to do with each other. I really don’t know if he was present at either the 6 Jan or the 9 May 2011 hearings or if he was talking about what he had heard or been told. So, let me set the record straight.
Members of the Transparency Committee have attended the monthly Election Commission Meetings each month since Apr 2010. We have asked for and paid for a complete list of Registered Voters and the list we are working with is dated 31 Mar 2011. We are trying to identify Registered Voters who don’t appear to live in Tunica County. The work of the Election Commission has not been particularly effective in the clean-up of the Voter Rolls.
At the 6 Jan Public Hearing, this committee reported that “we need to get our Election Commission and Voter Registrations straightened out before we can honestly begin talking about Redistricting.” At this meeting we gave 2 examples of problems we’ve found. (Believe me, there are more problems then just these two.)
1. We showed that in Tunica County, there is seemingly nothing to stop a person from registering to vote in one District, moving to another district and continuing to vote in the District where he/she first registered to vote. It's a matter of honesty if one chooses to change his/her address or not.
2. We showed that the MS State Representative from Districts 2 through 5 in Tunica County has not changed her address since she first registered to vote in 1983. Now, although Clara Burnett still lives in District 2, she does not live at 1370 Beatline Road. By using one of our prominent citizens as an example, we are showing the widespread disregard for this necessary information.
At the 9 May Public Hearing, this committee reported on the Election Commission and on the proposal by the Board of Supervisors for the Redistricting of Tunica County.
In this blog, let’s address what we said about the Election Commission.
1. As of 31 Mar 2011, Tunica County had 6255 registered voters. Tunica County has been added to the list of MS counties who have more registered voters then would be normal for a county with our population.
2. By our hand count, we discovered there are 399 people who remain on the active voter rolls even though they registered prior to 31 Dec 1999 and have never voted in Tunica County, MS. 399 people: that’s 16 percent of our voting rolls.
3. By our hand count about 80 people are using a P. O. Box as their official address for voter registration purposes. This address has to be the physical address for obvious reasons.
4. We reviewed the P. O. Boxes used on the Primary 2007 Record of Absentee Ballots. We have found only one of those boxes still listed on the 31 Mar 2011 voter rolls. I can’t imagine what the possibilities are for this group of facts. (Additional note: If you have any thoughts about a recent conviction in our county, please keep them to yourself until you have gone to the Courthouse and asked to see the Primary 2007 Record of Absentee Ballots. Then you can draw your own conclusion(s). I have done so and I am standing by my belief that this conviction is wrong.)
5. We’ve found instances of married couples who are still living together being registered in different precincts and at least 2 of these mistakes have these couples voting in different Beats. Examples:
Marilyn Young: Beat #1, Precinct #1 and Melvin Young: Beat #3, Precinct #6;
Kay Sartori: Beat #2, Precinct #4 and Rob Sartori: Beat #3, Precinct #5.
(Additional note: At the 10 May 2011 Election Commission Meeting, this Committee asked the Commission to take note of these corrections. We'll see if they've been corrected by the 14 Jun 2011 Election Commission Meeting.)
6. We found that since the 6 Jan 2011 Public Hearing for Redistricting, our MS State Representative, Clara Burnett has still not found the time to come to our Courthouse and change her address to where she now lives on Pritchard Road. Since Ms. Burnett was in attendance at this 9 May Public Hearing, I asked her to set an example for the entire County and to please come to the Courthouse and change the address on her Voter Registration.
Now, back to Mr. Gu. What he was mad at me about was that I kept talking about the addresses of Cedric Burnett and Clara Burnett at these Public Hearings for Redistricting when the purpose of the Hearings was about Redistricting. Mr. Gu thinks my statements are political because I am running against Cedric Burnett. Guess you could choose to see it that way by ignoring or not knowing the facts.
Mr. Gu, this committee has been reporting on the address being used by Cedric Burnett since Aug 2009. If you had ever come to a Board of Supervisors’ Meeting before 31 May 2011, read the Tunica Times, attended an Election Commission Meeting or a Tunicans for Transparency in Government Meeting, you would know that. You would also know that Cedric Burnett is not the only Supervisor we have looked at for address problems.
I will restate what this committee said at the 6 Jan 2011 Public Hearing for Redistricting: “we need to get our Election Commission and Voter Registrations straightened out before we can honestly begin talking about Redistricting.” Redistricting is about “One Person, One Vote.” We can't have one without the other.
Right now Tunica County has the cart before the horse. Our Voter Rolls are a mess. Mr. Gu, what are you doing about this problem besides complaining?
Running for office is not a popularity contest. Running for office is hard work and commitment to the people. All of the people.
Being in office is not gathering your friends around you and giving them yet another job when you could give those same jobs to someone who doesn’t already have a job. You do know Tunica County’s unemployment is around 18%? Maybe that’s news to you too.
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