A Jefferson County election commissioner, citing a culture of corruption and repeated attempts at voter suppression by two other members of the commission, requested that the State Board of Election Commissioners send an election monitor to keep an eye on the ballot process and vote count in the Nov. 3 General Election.
The request was made by Commissioner Theodis "Ted" Davis, the Democratic Party representative to the three-member commission.
According to the rules of the State Board of Election Commissioners regarding election monitors, the request must be made in writing and must clearly state the election irregularities or illegalities being alleged along with when and where the alleged activity occurred.
Election monitors must meet basic literacy requirements, may not be paid members of any political party or candidate, may not be an elected official, election commissioner, officer of a political party county committee, and may not be related by marriage or married to a political candidate appearing on the ballot.
Daniel Shults, director of the State Board of Election Commissioners, said he could not comment on the specific request but said most such requests are given serious consideration provided they meet the standards set in the rules.
"The board does tend to be pretty receptive to those, but there is a certain standard they have to meet," he said. "Obviously, the board will consider the basis; you do need to allege a reason for the election monitor, and the board will consider that."
Shults said the board would likely consider Davis' request by mid-October and issue a decision.
An election monitor was assigned to Jefferson County for the March Primary Election at the request of District 27 Senate candidate Keidra Burrell after some voters who cast early ballots were given ballots that listed the District 25 primary race between incumbent Sen. Stephanie Flowers and challenger Efrem Elliott by mistake.
Although the election monitor's report noted no serious polling site irregularities, the report did note that Commissioner Stuart "Stu" Soffer became upset upon walking into the polling site at First Baptist Church on Hazel Street after seeing a poll worker not following the instructions given during training.
The report said Soffer, in a loud voice, "asked her to step away from the machines, to give him the [Personal Electronic Ballot, or PEB], and to quit using the PEB," at which time the report said Soffer "loudly 'trained' a male student poll clerk to use the PEB" while other poll workers watched.
At that same polling site, the report noted, a voter refused to give his ID to a registration clerk, which the report said Soffer overheard. The report said that Soffer, in a loud tone of voice, told the voter to produce an ID "or he, Stu Soffer, would escort him out of the poll in handcuffs."
The report noted that the voter did produce an ID and apologized to Soffer, but that no attempt was made to explain to the voter that he could cast a provisional ballot without providing ID.
"Not allowing the voter to vote would have been an illegal disenfranchisement," the report said. It later noted that no voter disenfranchisement was witnessed at any of the polls.
Soffer did not respond Thursday to an email seeking comment regarding to monitor's report.
Davis has been engaged in a long-running dispute with his Republican Party counterparts on the commission, Soffer and commission Chairman Michael Adam. That dispute has apparently grown at least partially out of a disagreement over efforts at polling site consolidation, which Soffer and Adam both have said they support as a cost saving measure and Davis has consistently opposed, saying that closing polls leads to voter suppression in the majority Black, majority Democratic Jefferson County. Adam and Soffer have denied on numerous occasions that their efforts are an attempt to suppress voters.
To make changes to polling sites, the three-member commission must give its unanimous consent, which Davis has refused to do.
But in January, Davis abruptly resigned from the commission, and although his resignation was rescinded after the county Democratic Committee refused to accept it, he was absent from one special called meeting during which Adam and Soffer voted to consolidate precincts voting at three polling sites -- New Town Missionary Baptist Church, Old Morning Star Baptist Church, and the Pine Bluff School Administration Building -- if those sites had fewer than 100 voters cast ballots at each one in the March Primary Election.
All three polling sites drew less than 100 voters and plans were made to absorb those precincts into other polling sites, which, once known, drew protests and resulted in the commission reinstating Morning Star and the School Administration Building on Aug. 18. However, commissioners Adam and Soffer stood firm on the issue of New Town until Sept. 28, when the panel voted unanimously to reinstate the polling site for the Nov. 3 General Election.
During that time, public comment on the issue of the polling sites was stifled because of a commission rule limiting public comment to new business only. Attempts to bring up the polling site issue at meetings were ruled out of order by Adam, who recently explained to an observer from the American Civil Liberties Union that once business had been voted on by the commission, the public no longer had the ability to influence the decision-making process.
The observer, Rizelle Aaron, a voting rights coordinator with the ACLU, asked Adam about the effect the rule might have on limiting public participation in the process, which Adam said was not a factor.
"This is a public meeting," Adam said. "That means we do business in public. It doesn't mean the public has input into what we do on any of that. Even when they comment on new business, that still doesn't mean we make a decision based on that."
On Sept. 11, a lawsuit was filed against the Election Commission in Jefferson County Circuit Court alleging that Soffer and Adam had improperly ordered the closure of the three polling sites, and by refusing to consider reopening New Town -- which had not been reinstated at the time of the filing -- were infringing on the rights of the more than 300 registered voters in those precincts served by New Town.
The complaint also alleged that the commission, by limiting public comment to new business only, was infringing on the people's First Amendment right of free speech by prior restraint. The complaint alleged that the commission, with its Republican majority, "interferes with public comments to prevent the citizens from complaining about the unfair conduct of the election commission" in the heavily Democratic county and city.
Retired Circuit Court Judge David Laser has been assigned to preside over the case once a hearing is scheduled.