By Billy Davis

Election Day in Panola County showed few election problems on Nov. 8 according to Secretary of State reports obtained by The Panolian.

Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann sent at least one observer to Panola County for the General Election, which generated checklists for nine voting precincts.

The Secretary of State checklist is a two-page report of “yes” and “no” questions that inquire if the precinct was set up properly and opened on time, and if poll workers followed the 30-foot rule and 150-foot rule outside the precincts during the 12-hour day.  

The checklist also allows the observer to cite how many voters were assisted, who assisted them, and if ballots were challenged by poll watchers.

Observers sometimes write comments on the checklist, too. Comments were written during observing in Como, Crenshaw and Sardis during the recent General Election.  

In north Panola County, the observer filled out a checklist for Crenshaw, Sardis City Hall, Sardis courthouse, Sardis Public Library, Pleasant Mount, and the Como Public Library.

Elsewhere in the county, reports were filed for the Cliff Finch building, Batesville City Hall, and the Batesville courthouse, where a second report was filed after the polls closed.

It was unclear if a single observer visited all 10 precincts or if more than one was sent to Panola County.

A spokesman for Hosemann’s office did not respond to a question about the number of observers.

Among the observers’ written comments:
•At the Sardis library, the observer described the bailiff there as “very attentive” and active in and outside the precinct.

Outside the library, the bailiff walked around to ensure no one was “doing something they ought not to do,” the observer, quoting the bailiff, wrote.

The observer also wrote that someone named “Shirley” delivered food throughout the day on behalf of a candidate, who was not named.

David Hays was listed as the bailiff at the Sardis library in the General Election.

•At the Crenshaw precinct, the observer described a crowded room with “wall to wall” voters that obstructed the observers’ view.  

There is no room in the precinct for handicapped voters to move around according to another hand-written comment.

•The Como precinct has been a source of election troubles in the past but only one incident — a single challenge to a ballot — was recorded in handwritten notes on Nov. 8.

The observer wrote that Como bailiff David Marsh objected when “one lady was voting for another,” the observer wrote.

The voter helper was upset about the incident and was yelling outside the library according to the report.

Recalling that incident, Marsh told The Panolian the voter helper was telling the voter who to select when a poll watcher challenged the ballot.

“I tried to tell that person you can’t tell a person who to vote for,” Marsh recalled. “She got defensive but there was no disturbance.”

Poll workers were discussing the challenge when the voter cast the ballot, Marsh also recalled.

The voter helper did not return and that was the only incident during Election Day, he said.

The Como checklist also indicated a voting machine was out of order there. Checklists for the Batesville courthouse and the Sardis courthouse also recorded a single non-working machine at those precincts.

It was not clear if the Secretary of State observer — or observers — that came to Panola County also filed a first-hand account of Election Day observations. In the past election observers have complemented their precinct checklist with a separate first-person narrative of the goings-on at the precinct.

A scathing eight-page report turned in last year after the November elections accused Como poll workers of flaunting election laws at the precinct, where the state observer remained from noon until the polls closed.  

 The Panolian eventually obtained a copy of that Como report from the Secretary of State after a spokesman for Hosemann repeatedly declared that no report had been submitted for the precinct.

The spokesman, Pamela Weaver, said Thursday that no first-hand reports were submitted from Panola County after the Nov. 8 election.