Bland asks for information on polling location changes

    Meridian Mayor Percy Bland on Tuesday said his office has sent an official request to the Lauderdale County Election Commission asking for information about proposed changes to city polling locations.

    The changes have been approved by the Meridian City Council and the Lauderdale County Board of Supervisors.

    Last week, the city council voted 5-0 to adopt the proposed changes to five polling sites within the city of Meridian. The changes were done in an effort to have voters go to one one polling location for all city, county, state and federal elections.

    Bland said he has not made a decision whether to veto the council's action, but might do so by Thursday.

    Council President Dustin Markham said Monday at the Council of Governments meeting that Bland would need to inform the council of a veto before the next council meeting. Markham also said if there is a full council, Bland would need two council members to change their previous votes for Bland's veto to stand.

    "The history of voter suppression in this county has shown us that changing precinct locations, changing the number of voting machines available, and redistricting are all commonly used methods to reduce or decrease voter participation in some communities and thus impact election outcomes," Bland said in a written statement. "The city of Meridian paid $65,348.47 to Bridge and Watson, Inc. for an independent third party study establishing the existing wards and voting precincts used today, thus ensuring the rights of all the city of Meridian voters would be protected."

    Bland said the Lauderdale County Election Commission did not use a data-driven study that would validate its reasons for the changes, specifically, to change polling places at Mt Olive Missionary Baptist Church to the Carousel Place or the Council of Organizations in Ward 4 and from New Hope Missionary Baptist Church to First Baptist Church also in Ward 4. There was also a change in Ward 2, allowing voters in the Bonita area to vote at Oak Grove Baptist Church and not at the Velma Young Center.

    Election Commission Chairman Jeff Tate said Tuesday his office would have no problem with complying with Bland's request to provide information about the decision to change polling locations.

    "Anything that is needed legally by us, on what was said in the past, we will provide," Tate said. "We have nothing to hide."

    Bland's statement called for answers to be provided.

    "As city leaders, we cannot afford to be naive or gullible and passively accept changes without requesting real answers as to why and how changes will impact future city election outcomes," Bland said. "We must exert our political will to demand that we are doing all we can to protect all voters, especially since these changes to the upcoming voting precincts are less than two years from the Department of Justice pre-clearance. Let it be noted that this pre-clearance was in place to make sure that the voting rights of each and every voter was protected."