Jackson Free Press

Hinds County Republican Party Chairman Pete Perry said a rift between his administration and that of his predecessor, Ken Avery, complicated the Aug. 7 primary with staff shortages, long waits and some crossover voting.

The Jackson Free Press contacted Perry on the Coast, where the chairman was heading a ballot box examination in an attempt to usurp the hairline victory of Democrat David Baria over Democrat incumbent Sen. Scottie Cuevas, a Barbour supporter.

"There's a rift between the officers we used four years ago and the officers we have now. One of our problems was that they wouldn't give us any records for the last 20 years when we changed administrations. We didn't have records of who worked previously, so we had to start basically from scratch," Perry said about the poll problems.

Hinds County Democratic Chairman Claude McInnis said he also believed the last Republican administration withheld information from the new administration. Avery's wife is District 1 Election Commissioner Marilyn Avery, who McInnis said does not have a good working relationship with her husband's replacement.

"Marilyn's husband is the former chair of the Republican Party of Hinds County, and when Pete beat him for that position I think they really hung him out to dry," McInnis said.

Ken Avery said Perry's "rift" only consisted of Perry not doing all he could to get in touch with him in good time for the election.

"I don't want it to sound like sour grapes, but the lack of communication was on his part and not ours," Avery said. "If he had requested information we would have been more than happy to get it to him, but he realized he had problems about three weeks before the election."

Whatever the cause, McInnis said Republican problems worked against everybody on Aug. 7.

"The Republican Party in the county failed on Election Day. They failed to man almost half the Hinds County precincts, in my account," McInnis said. "When there was no Republican manning precincts, the Republican voters desiring to vote in the Republican primary had to vote in the Democratic primary, or not at all."

McInnis said the staffing shortage also forced an influx of abnormally conservative votes to influence Democratic Party candidates.

"There are Democratic candidates who complained to me that they think it adversely affected their election because Republicans voted in the Democratic primaries," McInnis said.

Justice Court 1 Candidate Sirena Wilson, whose campaign did not survive into the run-offs, said McInnis' argument sounded logical, but added that she could not be sure how extensively an influx of conservative voters affected her run in the Democratic primary.

"At this point, there's no way for me to know because I really haven't looked at the precinct-by-precinct analysis yet," Wilson said.

McInnis also said that Democratic poll workers reported that the Republican Party offered them money to cross the aisle and man Republican polling stations. "When they commandeer Democratic poll managers to work their precincts where they don't have their own people, it disrupts elections because it causes shortages on both sides of the room," he said.

Perry said the issue arose because the dearth of personnel information drove Republicans to tap Democratic poll workers to head Republican precincts.

"The people we hired to be our managers, the Democrats also hired to be their managers, and the poll workers really did not understand the difference," Perry said, adding that Republican workers "helped the Democrats in one or two precincts."

While McInnis claims nearly half the precincts in the county were missing Republican poll workers, Perry claims the number was "more like eight or nine."

McInnis said some Democratic workers expect to get paid again by the Republican Party—a belief Perry said is destined to disappoint.

"The poll workers don't get paid twice because they work the same number of hours. That's the way it is," Perry said.

Previous Comments

ID

68016

Comment

O.K. guys, I worked the polls that day. First of all, I was told 3 weeks before election day that I might have to work the Republican primary. It didn't matter, I just needed the money. I traditionally vote Democrat, but I always look at the candidates and the issues. But yes, I knew ahead of time that I might have to work the Republican Primary. Now, there were no Republicans to work this particular precint in South Jackson. Pete Perry showed up around 6:50 a.m., hot and flustered, and he explained his situtation. Perry did not offer us extra money, he offered the poll manager's position to us while clearly explaining that we could not get paid from both groups. No problem, I needed the extra money so I jumped at the opportunity for the manager's position (managers make more than poll workers). This South Jackson precint only had a few Republicans voting, so we never got a rush. There was cross-over voting, but that was deliberate (hint, sheriff's race). First thing - Why didn't Avery offer Perry the information he needed - it appears that Avery wanted him to fail. Secondly, Why didn't Perry see this coming and complain to the party higher ups?

Author

lanier77

Date

2007-08-22T14:30:02-06:00

ID

68017

Comment

Good assessment lanier. I agree why weren't the Avery's more 'giving' instead of having the attitude that Pete Perry had to come to them for the information? That's some bitter infighting right there. Way to represent the voting process there Avery's! I doubt very very highly that any Republicans went over and voted Democrat just because a poll worker was late opening the booths. Those that voted Dem. did so to keep Sheriff Mac in office as you mention. Was there even one local Republican primary race in Hinds Co? Just wondering? Ross or Bryant whoop-tee-do! “I don’t want it to sound like sour grapes, but the lack of communication was on his part and not ours,” Avery said. “If he had requested information we would have been more than happy to get it to him, but he realized he had problems about three weeks before the election.” If Avery knew Perry had problems 3 weeks before the election it doesn't sound like he offered any help to his fellow republican chairman. Go figure! Not buying his excuse for not helping.

Author

pikersam

Date

2007-08-22T15:41:39-06:00