Harpole could take election challenge to state high court
By By Steve Gillespie / staff writer
Jan. 10, 2004
DEKALB The attorney for unsuccessful Kemper County sheriff candidate Johnny Harpole said Friday he may take his challenge of last fall's Democratic primary runoff to the Mississippi Supreme Court.
That move would follow Circuit Court Judge Albert B. Smith's decision this week not to reconsider his dismissal of Harpole's case against the Kemper County Democratic Executive Committee and Sheriff Samuel Tisdale.
Bill Ready Jr., Harpole's attorney, said his client has 30 days to appeal to the state high court.
Smith, a Bolivar County judge who was appointed to hear the case by the state Supreme Court, originally granted Tisdale's motion to dismiss the challenge Harpole filed before it was scheduled to go to trial last month.
Harpole challenged the Aug. 26 runoff in which Tisdale was certified the winner by 40 votes after candidates reviewed ballot boxes and Harpole found what he called ballot irregularities.
A Kemper County Democratic Executive Committee hearing on Harpole's runoff challenge found that absentee ballots had been allowed that were not legal. The committee could not substantiate other claims.
The committee threw all absentee ballots out, and then certified Tisdale the winner by 159 votes. Tisdale then defeated two independents in November and won re-election with 56 percent of the vote.
In his motion to reconsider, Ready argued that one or more portions of the judge's ruling late last year was founded on state law regarding jurisdiction that was repealed more than 16 years ago.
Smith's ruling late last year said there were several "fatal defects" in Harpole's petition, which required the court to dismiss it.
Smith also stated that the court lacked jurisdiction in the matter because Harpole didn't allege any act or failure to act on the part of the Democratic Executive Committee that would allow the court to undertake a judicial review of the committee's findings.
In a written ruling dismissing the request to reconsider the case, Smith said that the state law in regard to jurisdiction is still viable. Smith dated the latest ruling Tuesday; it was made public Friday.
Tisdale's attorney, Linda A. Hampton, said Friday that she appreciates Harpole's right to file an appeal to the Mississippi Supreme Court. But she said she trusts that Smith's ruling will be affirmed if appealed.
