By Shannon McFarlin News Director
Paris, Tenn.–At Monday’s special meeting, the Henry County Election Commission was busy making preparations for the August election and rejected a bid by Commission Member Jim Poe to have Catherine Herrera purged from the county’s voting rolls.
At the meeting’s outset, Elections Administrator DeLaina Green presented Commission Member Bennie Akers with a certificate honoring his 10 years’ service on the commission.
Poe presented a recap of the Commission’s actions earlier this year when the Commission officially disqualified Herrera from running for Henry County Mayor by a vote of 4-1. After a lengthy public hearing on challenges to Herrera’s candidacy in April, the Commission voted that she did not meet residency requirements.
At Monday’s meeting, Poe said Herrera was placed on the local voter rolls in March of this year. He contends this action was ‘in error’ and said he is opposed to her remaining on the voter rolls. He outlined the reasons that the Commission earlier disqualified her from running for office, citing the residency questions surrounding the issue.
Chairman Steve Goggans said Herrera presented her Henry County driver’s license and met all the required procedures “and we said she is a registered voter of Henry County. I don’t believe in removing her from the voter roll. I don’t think it’s our business at this point.”
Likewise, Commission Member Sylvia Humphreys noted the Commission acted to remove her from the ballot “and that was our main concern”, not whether she was a registered voter.
Commission Member Art Smith said legal counsel had attested that the Commission “is outside of our legal authority to remove her” from the voting rolls.
Voting against purging Herrera from the voter rolls was Goggans, Smith, Humphreys and Akers, with Poe voting yes.
Green also noted that Herrera requested a transcript of the hearing, which costs $1,500. By law, the Commission does not have to provide it since it doesn’t have one in its possession anyway. “We didn’t order a transcript, but there is a video of it which is public and we’ll send her the minutes.”
In other business, the commission reviewed and approved ballot tapes, appointing poll workers, establishing the write-in list for a few offices, and setting the time to open polls on Election Day.
–The Commission voted that the polls will open at 7 a.m. in Henry County for the August 6 election, with the statewide closing time of 7 p.m. The August 6 election will be a state and federal primary and state and county general election.
Early voting is from July 17 through August 1.
–Green reported positive feedback for the Election Commission’s new website. “It’s very user-friendly and we’ve noticed phone calls are not as frequent to our office and I believe that’s because people are getting the answers they want on the website. Especially this close to an election, we’re usually double the amount of calls.” She said she also sees that the public is sending emails to the office through the website, which is another benefit.
–She introduced new technicians Jonathan Parker and John Griffin and said Commission personnel will be visited the nursing homes July 13 and 14 for the purpose of allowing residents to vote.
Photo: Administrator DeLaina Green presents 10-year certificate to Bennie Akers. Shannon McFarlin photo.