Carey Scholars forum details

Friday at 1:30 pm at Wilkes Dining Hall on the Hattiesburg campus of William Carey University.  The public is invited to attend, and candidates are urged to bring supporters with them.  The program will run until 3 pm, and each candidate will be afforded 4-6 minutes, after the Secretary of State's office explains the write-in procedure to the attendees.  All major media outlets in the Pine Belt Area have been invited to attend.

This will be the last opportunity for each candidate to explain their positions on serving the public in this important role.

What happened at 2:00 pm today at the Jackie Dole Sherrill Building

Delbert Hosemann gave a substantial talk regarding our coming election.  The Secretary of State asked all potential candidates to send qualifying affidavits to the Secretary of State's office.  This way, there will be an unofficial qualifying process.  The Secretary of State has promised to issue a press release for each qualifying affidavit or political committee formation statement.

A list of candidates will not be available from the circuit clerks.
Spelling of names need not be exact, but should be attempted.
Poll workers will be allowed to assist persons with arthritis to write in votes.

I asked Secretary of State Hosemann how the military voters will be contacted.  Mississippi has electronic ballots for the military, and some of them have already voted.  I pointed out that yesterday, when I called Camp Shelby and spoke with a non-com at the MOC, they were not aware that Judge Thomas had died, much less that there was going to be a write-in election.  Secretary Hosemann stated that they had notified the Adjutant General of the procedure yesterday.  Lou Ellen Adams, our Circuit Clerk, told us that she had personally emailed everyone who had requested an absentee ballot with the information on Friday.  I was pleased to hear that our service members will have the opportunity to cast a vote in this election.

I was not interviewed by WDAM on-site, but they told me to expect a call on Friday.  Also, I was listening to Sid Salter at 3:50 pm, and Sid had some question about the mechanics of the election.  I was privileged to call in and tell Sid what we had all learned at the meeting, how the election was going to proceed, and what the Secretary of State's office was going to do to educate the voter.  Sid asked me if I was running, and I said yes.  He let me make the announcement at the end of the 3 o'clock hour.

If I can get the audio for that, I will.

Thanks, Sid!

Jude Lackey refuses to stop write-in for 13th Circuit Court District

Although the 13th Circuit Court lawsuit has different facts than our election, this points to the write-in going forward down here, absent an expedited appeal and stay by the Mississippi Supreme Court.  Can't wait to ask Secretary of State Hosemann about this.

EDIT: More details from the Clarion Ledger.

My campaign's pledge to supporters and contributors

We will not spend a dime of contributions until after I learn tomorrow the answer to three questions I will ask Secretary of State Hosemann: first, how is the write-in affected by the Voting Rights Act, Section 5?  Second, how accurately do voters need to spell my name for the vote to count?  Third, who interprets the intent of the voter regarding the write-in vote?

If tomorrow Secretary Hosemann can promise us that the write-in is cleared or will be cleared by the Department of Justice, that there will be a uniform standard for evaluating the votes, and that the voter's intent in writing in the names will be accounted for, then we will being our campaign in earnest.  Tomorrow will be a busy day for this campaign.