2005   First-time mayoral candidate Judy Sumner wins an election upset in Como, defeating longtime incumbent Azria “Bobby” Lewers 302-298. But that outcome is reversed a day later when the Como Democratic Executive Committee re-examines 19 absentee ballots that had been rejected by poll workers the night before. The committee re-examines and approves 12 ballots — all of them for Lewers.  

Sumner refuses to concede, sues in court, and three years later a Circuit Court judge rules the Executive Committee had no legal right to count the rejected ballots. The 302-298 election total is upheld.

2006   Following Como’s municipal elections a year earlier, a voter fraud trial gets under way in Sardis, led by the Mississippi Attorney General’s office. The state’s case flops in circuit court and, afterward, Attorney General Jim Hood blames state witnesses whose testimony changed on the witness stand.

The defendants included Como’s police chief and city clerk, who faced voter fraud charges, and two other Como residents charged with voter bribery.

2007   State Sen. Nolan Mettetal defeats Democratic challenger Mona Pittman by 88 votes of 12,800 cast in Panola and Tate counties. Pittman appeals to the state Democratic Executive Committee, which orders a new state senate election after hearing allegations of a poorly managed primary election.

Mettetal appeals to the state Supreme Court, where a circuit trial is ordered and a judge eventually rules the election results will stand.

The contested election turned nasty, even by Panola County standards. Mettetal and his family rebut signed affidavits alleging vote buying and voter intimidation with signed affidavits of their own — some people who signed affidavits for Pittman recant their claims.

Mettetal switches from Democrat to Republican four months later and is welcomed into the Mississippi Republican Party.

••••••••
Elsewhere in Panola County, Panolian readers learn a new political term, “voter helper,” when a woman is observed moving from voter to voter inside the Como precinct.

She is eventually told to leave.

2008   The Como voting precinct gains more attention for voting problems. During the General Election, two Republican poll watchers allege an election commissioner advised a voter that he was selecting Republican candidates on the Diebold electronic ballot.

The precinct bailiff, meanwhile, alleges a candidate for election commissioner was helping voters cast ballots throughout the day. A reporter also saw the candidate help a voter cast a ballot, though she later claims she didn’t assist anyone else on Election Day.

The bailiff, a Republican, also claims poll workers at Como brazenly selected candidates for voters during Election Day.

2009   The Mississippi Attorney General declines to prosecute after a four-minute video shows a Panola election commissioner surrounded by what appears to be 25 to 30 absentee ballot envelopes.

A teenager secretly recorded the video at a credit union in Sardis, where the commissioner appeared to be filling out the envelopes.

A copy of the video makes it way to the state agency. An official report concludes that the election commissioner did seem to possess absentee ballot envelopes in the video but his action failed to violate Mississippi election law.
••••••••

As that investigation was under way, supervisor candidate William Pride is mulling contesting the results of the District 2 supervisor’s race after his poll workers report numerous allegations of wrongdoing.

Pride’s accusations were bolstered by observers from the Mississippi Secretary of State’s office who wrote in their reports that poll workers mishandled absentee ballots at Sardis and at Longtown precincts, among other questionable actions.
Citing an expensive and lengthy court battle, Pride decides not to contest the election results.

2010   Following a November general election, a blistering report from the Mississippi Secretary of State’s office claims poll workers at Como failed to respond to challenged votes, mishandled absentee ballots, and ignored the “voter helper” laws for curbside voting.

In one instance, the state observer remarked to the poll manager that a curbside voter was being instructed who to vote for — yet the poll manager did not intervene.

An observer for the Attorney General’s office also told the Secretary of State observer he had told the poll manager she was behind the voting machines too often, according to the Secretary of State report.

Two absentee ballots were rejected at Como, 105 were accepted, and poll watchers announced they were challenging the outcome after watching poll workers review the ballots.

“When I asked the poll manager whether they were checking the absentee ballots correctly according to the procedures that were outlined in the law, she stated that they were,” the state observer wrote.  

2011   Poll workers at the Patton Lane Community Center complain that a “voter helper” was allowed to bring voters to the polls throughout the day and help them cast a ballot.

When The Panolian later seeks clarification from state officials, a reporter is directed to a Secretary of State election handbook. The handbook fails to describe where a voter helper can legally stand at the voting machine and if it’s legal to place a voter’s fingers on the machine, so both questions remain unanswered by state election officials. ••••••••

William Pride loses the Democratic primary for District 2 supervisor to incumbent Vernice Avant.
Among other accusations, a canvassing of ballot boxes alleges 63 absentee ballots are in question — Pride lost by 73 votes.  

In a three-page letter, Pride appeals to the Panola County Democratic Executive Committee to declare him the winner or overturn the results. The committee refuses and responds with a one-sentence letter to the challenger.