Clarksdale’s Democratic Primary Election voters have chosen their candidates for Mayor and Commissioners.
Orlando Paden defeated Bubba O’Keefe in the Clarksdale mayor’s race and Ward 1 Commissioner candidate Ray Sykes has apparently nudged incumbent Commissioner Bo Plunk from office.
In other races, Ward 3 candidate Eddie Earl defeated incumbent Willie Turner by a sizable margin and newcomer Linda C. Downing defeated campaign veteran Kim Seals for the Ward 4 post.
And while the Ward 1 election was the closest, it was hotly contested races for Ward 3 and Ward 4 that brought out the vote and probably decided the Mayor’s race.
Paden got 1,728 votes to top O’Keefe’s 1,217 votes.
Paden moves on to the General Election on June 3 to face independent candidates for Mayor, Scotty Meredith and Milton Gardner.
Sykes earned 413 votes in the Ward 1 race with Plunk collecting 410.
This close race will probably see a recount and final election results will have to wait until 5 p.m. Wednesday, April 30 to see if any mail-in ballots come in.
Earl was the nights only out-right winner with 339 votes to Turner’s 267 votes. Earl does not have an opponent in the General Election.
Downing got 420 votes to Seals’ 304 votes. Downing moves on to face Darron “Gucci” Griffin, an Independent candidate, in June.
Ward 2 saw incumbent Jimmy Harris gather the majority of the votes in the First Primary to jump directly to the General Election.
There was an apparent glitch in the machine that counts absentee and affidavit ballots, prompting those ballots to be counted by hand. That process delayed a final count until after 10:30 p.m. Tuesday night.
“Ballots were printed in a way where they can not be read,” said Clarksdale city board attorney Melvin Miller. “That is why we will have to hand count.”
City Clerk Laketha Covington said the margins on the ballot were not set for the printer used to automatically count ballots. She said the printed margins of the ballot were smaller and were unable to be read by the machines.
This was a Democratic Primary and the election was run by the Democratic Executive Committee. Absentee ballots were counted by the city resolution board before the public in the city board room. Affidavit ballots were approved and added to the final count by the local Democratic Executive Committee meeting in a room upstairs at City Hall.
Candidates have three days to ask to review ballots and boxes. The election must be certified by the Democratic Executive Committee in at least 10 days.
Tuesday’s election has tentatively finalized the removal of all incumbent candidates, except for Harris, from the Board of Mayor and Commissioners. Harris has not served a full term, because he was elected in a special election following the death of Ward 2 incumbent Commissioner Ken Murphey.
Clarksdale’s new Board of Mayor and Commissioners will be seated on July 1.
The field for Clarksdale Mayor and Commissioners started with 23 candidates running for posts on the Clarksdale Democratic ticket and that number has been whittled down to eight in the first primary.
And while the party primary elections are over there are still deadlines for candidates to meet to qualify for office.
State law says candidates were to submit their first campaign finance report listing donor contributions and expenditures to the City Clerk by March 25, a second one by April 25 and a final one July 27. Campaign Finance reports are public record and failure to file can result in $50 fines accruing daily and the State Attorney General shall file suit and prosecute the delinquent candidate and appropriate political committee.
Mississippi Code 23-15-811 states persons who fail to file campaign finance disclosures “shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be punished by a fine in a sum not to exceed $3,000 or imprisoned for not longer than six (6) months or by both fine and imprisonment.”
The statute goes on to note that, “No candidate who is elected to office shall receive any salary or other remuneration for the office until he or she files all reports required by this law that are due as of the date the salary or remuneration is payable.”
Candidates for municipal office must complete and file with the State Ethics Commission a Statement of Economic Interest within fifteen days of becoming a candidate for public office.
The law also disqualifies a candidate who has not filed campaign finance reports from the ballot.
Candidates for city office must also clear up any outstanding fines, taxes or warrants from the municipalities they represent.
All candidates must be qualified voters of the city or ward they represent and must not have been convicted of certain felonies that resulted in incarceration, unless they have received a full pardon from the State of Mississippi. Candidates who have been pardoned must present that proof to their respective party and the City Clerk to qualify. Convicted felons wishing to receive a pardon must wait seven years before having their voting rights restored.
Candidates must also have lived in the city or ward they represent for the past two years and be able to prove that fact through voter registration rolls, Mississippi driver’s license or homestead exemption. Fraudulent filing of homestead exemption is a federal tax offense.
Candidates cannot have been legally declared mentally incompetent.
The Clarksdale Mayor has a current salary of $122,421.92 per year and Commissioners are paid $46,650 per year. Both Mayor and Commissioners get a monthly mileage and travel expense plus a home office expense, despite having office space at City Hall.
The annual compensation for Mayor went from $86,421 to $122,421.92 and Commissioner went from $26,650 to $46,650 on the city first meeting following their election in June 2021.
State law allows retirement to be based on the top four years of pay in the Mississippi Public Employee Retirement System (PERS) that is not able to sustain itself. City, county, school and all state employees qualify for PERS and must be at state employee to be fully vested.
Current Clarksdale City Commissioners may vote to reduce their salaries as they leave office.
