The July trials contesting two close Mississippi elections produced disturbing evidence of “abusive bullying tactics,” “shocking instances of illegal voting,” and election misconduct so egregious that courts ordered new elections in both Canton and Hattiesburg. 

The attorney for the challengers in both cases says, “The integrity of our election process was also on trial. In both cases, the courts ordered new elections because that integrity was found lacking. Peeking behind the curtain into the voting booth was unsettling. We proved instances of illegal votes, voter fraud, and other misconduct.”

In Canton’s Democrat primary: Usually-elusive voter suppression was on “loud and boisterous” display at the polls as Democratic Municipal Executive Committee member Kimberly Readus “tore up a voted affidavit ballot, tried to force poll workers to allow people who were not on the poll books to vote on the voting machines” and “intimidated poll workers, voters, and intended voters, such as to severely disrupt the democratic process.”

Democratic Committee Chair Robert Chinn followed “the law according to Chinn” and allowed “at least five affidavit ballots to be counted (in a four-vote race), even though the voters did not live in the Ward.” 

Improper voter assistance and improper handling of absentee ballots rounded out the list of misconduct leading to a court-ordered re-do of Canton’s Ward 1 Alderman election.

In Hattiesburg’s mayoral election: A “total breakdown in the absentee balloting process and shocking instances of illegal voting.”

“Hundreds of absentee ballots failed to comply with mandatory provisions of Mississippi law. They were counted anyway, giving DuPree well more than his [37-vote] margin of victory.”

Ineligible felons voting? Check.  Voter impersonation? Check.

“Opponents of voter ID have said that ID is a ‘solution in search of a problem’ because there are no examples of people impersonating other voters. Wrong. Voter ID, properly enforced, would have stopped these illegal votes.”

Even the trial “involved allegations of witness intimidation,” but the judge ordered a new election and Hattiesburg voters will try again to elect a mayor on September 24.

New elections are a step toward “greater integrity for Mississippi elections,” but bigger “wins” will come with prosecutions of the Canton and Hattiesburg fraudsters and intimidators.