Elections tell us a lot about us and this community had two elections this week, with one of those being county-wide elections and the second a city bond vote.
I had a wise man explain to me that elections are a one-day snapshot of our community. He added the results of the vote change the dynamics and the deck is immediately reshuffled as voters look at the totals, align with winners and losers and then try and figure out why people voted the way they did.
Politics is not only a dirty art, it is also an inexact science.
And anyone who truly loves their community and wants to see it flourish, pays close attention.
Let's take a look at what has happened over the last two weeks this summer.
Tuesday’s vote
• I have heard political pundits who won their races Tuesday say it was a dirty election. I've had two men who lost races say it was the cleanest county election they have seen in years.
Go figure.
• There is a story on Page One about the fiasco at Friar’s Point.
We were sitting in the Circuit Clerk’s office when an obviously exasperated Demetria Jackson grabbed her keys and headed out the door to literally pickup the election machines on the west side of the county. That leadership and desire to run a tight-ship may be the reason Jackson did not have an opponent this year.
• This is my first election in Coahoma County and I don’t want to imply anything I can’t back up, but I am a veteran of more than two dozen elections. Let me assure you it is those late boxes that make candidates and voters wonder how legitimate any election really is.
• Three hundred absentee ballots is roughly 7 percent of the votes cast Tuesday. That is a pretty solid number since the Secretary of State’s office says between 5 and 10 percent is the norm.
• Demetria Jackson had the highest local voter percentage of ballots cast in her favor Tuesday night with 4,668 votes or 99.98 percent and County Attorney John Sherman got 4,596 votes or 99.93 percent. Pat Davis collected 100 percent of the votes in Dist. 2. Those numbers and no opposition indicate you think they are doing a good job.
• Don’t forget what happened in Tuesday’s city bond issue vote either.
That vote saw the city give a 66-percent approval rating to those bonds. That’s a landslide in any other election.
The job now is to make sure the city spends those dollars on our roads, bridges and ditches like they said they would.
Clarksdale has a lot of nifty things going on right now. Like the Mayor said, “Let’s get to work!”
Where do we go now?
My daddy dropped bombs on the Japanese in World War II and he once told me the only way to destroy an enemy is to make them your friend.
The United States did that with Japan. That can be true about those who had opposition in Tuesday’s primary races.
We had some heated races that were decided Tuesday. We have a runoff Aug. 27 and a General Election the first Tuesday in November.
I hope Tuesday’s winners don’t mimic the antics of Washington and hold political grudges that are dividing this country. I hope Coahoma County elected officials will put the past behind them, take the high road and move on.
This community has some very serious problems and it will take all of us working together to solve them.
Floyd Ingram is the Editor of your Clarksdale Press Register and has watched cities, states and our country vote for more than 25 years. Call him at 627-2201 if you want to talk civics and politics.
