Indianola resident Charles Modley made an appearance before the Sunflower County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday to make an appeal for the members to consider adding an additional voting precinct in District 3.
But after a discussion that lasted nearly 30 minutes, no action was taken.
According to Modley, three precincts already exist in that district, but all three are located north of Second Street.
One is located at the courthouse annex/Justice Court building on Main Street, one is located on U.S. Hwy. 49 North/MLK Boulevard at the Sunflower County Consolidated School District administration building and the third is on U.S. Hwy. 82 at the school district's other administration building.
Modley is proposing that the supervisors opt for adding an additional district precinct at the Carver Elementary School on Jefferson Street to make it more convenient for the District 3 residents who live south of the Columbus & Greenville Railway tracks.
A letter reportedly submitted by Circuit Clerk Carolyn Hamilton that referenced House Bill 914 advised Modley and the members of a prohibition imposed by the state legislature that would preclude any changes and thereby rule out any definitive decision until after January 2021.
According to Board President Riley Rice, the letter read in part, "The Board of Supervisors may only change a polling place location, but they cannot change any precincts' lines, which would include creating a new precinct."
The prohibition evidently began in 2018 and is to continue through December of 2020 after the legislators adopt their respective redistricting plan.
Modley said he understood the restrictions especially in light of the upcoming March primaries and stated that he was not trying to get it done immediately. District 1 Supervisor Glenn Donald added that Modley was only trying to be proactive.
Attorney Johnny McWilliams added that it is yet unclear which direction Modley’s proposal will go until after this year's census numbers are taken into account.
"Nobody's going to know exactly which way you're going until you get the new census figures, and they're going to be here in less than a year," McWilliam said.
District 3 Supervisor Ben Gaston initially raised a concern about parking issues and the addition of the school as a precinct being a disruption to the school day if Carver Elementary was chosen as the new location.
However, that argument was dispelled when it was brought to light that Gentry High School is used as a polling precinct and that Carver is currently used as a polling precinct for the city of Indianola elections.
Gaston voiced another concern with regard to a recent discussion about the decline in the number of poll workers.
"You got some of them that are saying I'm old and I'm getting out of the business,” he said, “And they don't even have enough poll workers now to work the polls in March."
