From the Clarion Ledger…
The board (of Election Commissioners) will meet again next week to sort out residency issues for a handful of candidates for other offices, including a former Ole Miss football player who is hoping to oust an incumbent Democrat state senator in north Mississippi…
…The commission discussed at length its requirement to review residency issues.
Barbour said his interpretation was the commission should only review if residency or other issues have been challenged.
Hosemann said his office routinely checks candidates to make sure they are in compliance with residency and voting requirements.
An issue left unresolved Friday is the candidacy of Todd Wade, a Republican candidate slated to face Sen. Gray Tollison, D-Oxford, in November.
Wade, a former Rankin County resident who played high school football at Jackson Prep, retired from the NFL in 2008.
The board questioned whether he has been a qualified elector for four years, because records available to the secretary of state’s office only show him registering in 2010.
Wade said he registered to vote 15 years ago in Rankin County, though his attorneys have not been able to locate the records.
“I do remember in high school, as a class, we all voted,” he said.
He said he did not vote after that, and no other record has been found to indicate he was registered before 2010.
His attorney, Bridgforth Rutledge, argued the documentation could have been lost in the transition from hard-copy to digital records. “It’s not beyond reason to think that,” he said.
He also argued Barbour’s position that the commission should not review the issue unless it is challenged.
“Shouldn’t we err on the side of letting the voters choose?” Rutledge said.
The issue is expected to be resolved Tuesday.
Full story at the ClarionLedger.com
9/10/11
Magnolia Tribune
