Public Service Commissioner ballot review underway a day before MS General Election Runoff

Pam Dankins, Mississippi Clarion Ledger
·3 min read
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After nearly three weeks following the Nov. 7 election night, results are pending in two nearby races: Central District Public Service Commissioner and District 2 Hinds County Election Commissioner.

The central district PSC race is under a recount after incumbent Central District Public Service Commissioner Brent Bailey pushed for an examination of ballots to be conduct, following his close loss to candidate De'Keither Stamps.

The Hinds County Election Commissioner race was forced into a runoff due to split votes between four candidates: Bobbie McClure Graves, Richard Cook, RaToya Gilmer McGee and Celestial Gordon-Griffin. Only Graves and McGee will face off against each other.

See details on each race below:

A poll worker hands an "I voted" sticker to a voter who just cast their ballot at Precinct 5 at Wood Activity & Therapeutic Center in Clinton during the general election Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2023.
A poll worker hands an "I voted" sticker to a voter who just cast their ballot at Precinct 5 at Wood Activity & Therapeutic Center in Clinton during the general election Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2023.

Public Service Commissioner recount

Hinds County Election Commission Office confirmed that a recount for the closely contested Central District Public Service Commissioner race is currently taken place in Hinds County between the incumbent Bailey and his challenger Stamps.

The recount comes after Bailey sent a notice dated Nov. 18 to Stamps, stating he will be inspecting “ballot boxes, election materials, poll records and any and all other related items” from the Nov. 7 election.

In the Nov. 7 General Election, the Associated Press called the race in favor of Stamps at 1:58 p.m. on Nov. 14. Stamps, who won by a margin of 2,000 votes, garnered 50.4% of the vote to Bailey’s 49.6% — the same percentage margin in 2019 when Bailey defeated Stamps.

More: Stamps declared winner in Central District Public Service Commission race. See margin of win

In response to Bailey's notice, Stamps filed an injunction to delay the review. He said that he wasn’t given the required three-day notice before the review began. Hinds County Circuit Court Judge Faye Peterson granted the suspension Wednesday, November 22, delaying the examination until Monday.

Bailey has until Monday, Nov. 27 at 5 p.m. to legally contest the election.

No other updates were provided from the election office at this time.

Hinds Co. Election Commissioner Runoff

The Secretary of State announced that General Election Runoff Day will be held Tuesday for seven counties: Claiborne, Grenada, Montgomery, Pontotoc, Sharkey, Tate and Hinds.

In Hinds County, a race for District 2 Hinds County Election Commissioner will take place between incumbent McGee and independent Graves.

District 2 affects 26 precincts of Hinds County.

More: See who won contested races in Hinds County local elections

At the releasing of the complete but unofficial Nov. 7 election results in Hinds County, Graves won roughly 29% of the vote and McGee trailed behind, winning nearly 20% of the vote. Neither candidate was able to secure the required 50% plus one vote at the final count of all precincts reporting.

Cook and Gordon-Griffin were two other independent candidates in the race, but they both took less than 18% of the vote each.

The Secretary of State said that all mail-in absentee ballots must be postmarked by Nov. 28 and received by county circuit clerk offices by 5 p.m. on Dec. 5 in order to be counted.

In-person absentee voting closed Saturday, Nov. 25.

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: PSC bailey stamps ballot review starts a day before MS runoff day