CANTON, Miss. (AP) - A Mississippi city’s Democratic primary election results have been accepted by Secretary of State Michael Watson after the Republican initially balked because Canton’s certification paperwork didn’t have the right signatures.
The dispute followed repeated allegations of electoral misconduct in Canton.
Mayor William Truly on Thursday told reporters that the dispute was over, and “nobody will be indicted.”
“There is nothing clandestine here or surreptitious here or secretive here,” Truly told reporters. “We have honorable people running this election, who ran the primary. They will run the runoff and will run the general. Everybody’s votes will be counted and who gets the most votes will win.”
Watson doesn’t certify primary elections, but objected because several members of the Democratic committee signed paperwork but hadn’t been properly chosen.
After Watson wrote a letter outlining his objections, the party committee met and properly filled the vacancies, secretary of state’s spokesperson Kendra James told WLBT-TV.
“After that meeting, the official recapitulation report was resubmitted with the appropriate number of signatures,” she said.
Truly said the trouble arose because two factions earlier were claiming to be the legitimate Democratic committee.
Multiple people, including several Canton city officials, were indicted following 2017 city elections for voting-related offenses. Four were ultimately convicted. In March, the Mississippi Court of Appeals overturned the conviction of one of those people, Courtney Rainey.
Canton will have a Democratic runoff for an alderman’s post on Tuesday. The general election is June 8.
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