Candidate challenges election, judge in court | Free News

A Laurel woman who has made several unsuccessful runs for local political offices is crying foul after losing her most recent race by more than 70 percent.

Marian Allen argues that Travis Haynes shouldn’t have been allowed to replace David Lyons on the Nov. 7 ballot for Jones County Justice Court Judge in District 3 after Lyons withdrew from the race because of health reasons, so she is contesting the election. Haynes won handily with more than two-thirds of the votes (4,920-2,063). Lyons, who served six terms, died just before Christmas.

Allen filed the paperwork to challenge the election in the Jones County Circuit Clerk’s Office pro se (representing herself) on Nov. 27, but Hattiesburg attorney Vanessa Jones joined the case at the beginning of the year, she told special appointed Judge Lamar Pickard in a hearing in Jones County Circuit Court on Friday.

Haynes was represented by County Attorney Risher Caves, who filed a motion for summary judgment Jan. 2 on the basis that Allen’s claim had no merit. Jones, who was a half-hour late for the hearing, told the judge she was unable to respond to Caves’ motion before the 10-day deadline because she had just taken the case right after the holidays and she hadn’t received election files she needed to proceed.

“The Mississippi Supreme Court puts a priority on these types of cases,” said Pickard, a senior status judge from Copiah County who was appointed to handle the case since it involves another judge in Jones County. “So we need to hear this case and dispose of it quickly.”

The crux of the case is based on whether the ballots were printed before Lyons withdrew and Haynes was selected to replace him on Sept. 21, Jones said.

“To ascertain that, I need the circuit clerk’s entire election file,” Jones said.

Caves wrote that there is “undisputed evidence” to show that the ballots had yet to be printed when Lyons withdrew from the race. Chancery Clerk Concetta Brooks, who was circuit clerk at the time of the election, was in the courtroom and was questioned briefly. She told the court that all of her exhibits had been filed already, but the judge ordered, at Jones’ request, that Brooks also submit to a deposition.

Jones must first respond to Caves’ motion for summary judgment, though, Pickard pointed out, extending the deadline for that to Feb. 5.

“Elections are under a great deal of scrutiny the last several years, so I want to give an opportunity for the plaintiff to be heard,” Pickard said.

Removing Lyons’ name from ballots after they had already been printed was a violation of Mississippi Code, Allen claimed, and Haynes shouldn’t have been added since he didn’t qualify to run for the job. She also complained that the Jones County election commissioners failed to grant her a hearing before replacing Lyons with Haynes, who had already been appointed by the Board of Supervisors to fill in for Lyons after he suffered a stroke then was selected by the Executive Committee of the Jones County Republican Party to replace him on the ballot. In August, Lyons won the Republican primary and Allen won the Democratic primary. Both were uncontested.

Brooks and the executive committee of the Jones County Republican Party followed all of the proper procedures put forth by the State Board of Election Commissioners and Secretary of State’s Office to have Lyons removed from the ballot for “legitimate nonpolitical reasons” and replaced with Haynes, Caves countered in his motion for summary judgment.

No Jones County general election or absentee ballots had been printed at that time, he added.

“Since Marian Allen has failed to demonstrate a genuine issue of material fact in this Election Contest, the Court should grant summary judgment in Travis Haynes’ favor,” Caves concluded.

The judge will hear their arguments on Feb. 9, and if the motion for summary judgment isn’t granted, the case would go to trial on Feb. 12. Jones told the court that she would want a jury trial, not a bench trial, and said she expected it would take two days.

Allen, who is the executive director of the Laurel Jones County Black History Museum, has had unsuccessful runs for justice court judge and Laurel City Council in recent years.

In another election contest case, Derrick Barber claimed voter fraud and other violations after he lost to incumbent Beat 5 Supervisor Travares Comegys, who outpolled the challenger with 75 percent of the vote (2,310-777). Barber’s claim was dismissed.

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7rbHAnZyrZZOWua16wqikaKaVrMBwstGenJimlazAcK%2FAp5uinJGpsm6vx5qjpZ2enLK0ecSlnJysmaS7brbUnZ6eZZmjeqS71KuraJmiqbakuMSYnXBpYmazdLGMm2qdml1mfqaxjHGbmpxdmq%2BjsZBqmnCdlWiyb7TTpqM%3D