Madison Voter Purge

Madison County Herald - Thousands purged from voter rolls - More than 10,000 names have been removed from Madison County voter rolls since January by a single member of the Election Commission without prior knowledge or approval of the other four. District 1 Commissioner Sue Sautermeister of Ridgeland said Wednesday she was within her rights as a commissioner and acting within the law to move those voters from active to inactive status, which removes their names from voter registration books that will be used Tuesday in primary elections.

“I believe I was,” within the boundaries of the Election Commission in taking action, Sautermeister said. Sautermeister said she used jury notices and voter notification cards, which had been returned by the U.S. Postal Service as undeliverable, as the basis for removing the voters. Those voters had anywhere from one to five pieces of official returned mail that had piled up over time, she said. However, Election Commission Chairman Kakey Chaney said Sautermeister did not follow what has been the standard practice of the commission for the past three years to purge names. “The rest of the Election Commission was not aware” of Sautermeister’s action, she said.

Purging the rolls of names of people who have died or moved from Madison County is a time-consuming process, Chaney said. Since the commission was elected in 2004, the members as a whole have not purged anywhere close to 10,000 names from the books. “That is an unusually high number,” she said. “We have not taken off names just because they had two or three pieces of returned mail,” Chaney said.

The commission makes several attempts to get voter notices out, she said. Before removing anyone from the books, the commission sends a postcard that specifically asks the voter if he lives within the voting district and points out that records show he has not voted in at least two federal elections, Chaney said. The process was not followed by Sautermeister, “not as I understand it,” Chaney said.

Sautermeister would not answer why she undertook the purge now or why she acted on her own. “That’s a moot question. It doesn’t matter because they’ve all been put back,” she said.

Circuit Clerk Lee Westbrook said the names of voters will be restored to the poll books before Tuesday’s primary election, However, as of Wednesday morning, they had not yet been added back, she said. Westbrook, who was informed Monday morning by Sautermeister of the purging, said she and state officials are working to make sure all the names are back on the books before the election. “It is the intent of the secretary of state’s office and the circuit clerk’s office to return all of those voters to active status so everybody can vote Tuesday,” Westbrook said.

The majority of voters removed live in the 3rd Congressional District. Some of those removed have voted in recent elections, including November 2007, Westbrook said.
Republican congressional candidate David Landrum and his wife Jill were two of the voters removed. Westbrook said she personally restored both of them to the official books.

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ClarionLedger.com - Sid Salter Blog - Landrum: The Madison County, Hinds County conspiracy? - Sources are also confirming that the Landrum campaign is likely to ramp up previously vague allegations they've made of possible tampering with voting documents in Hinds County by accusing campaign operatives in the Rounsaville campaign and suggesting that because Landrum was hit in 2008 in the Madison County voter roll purge, a similar pattern exists in Hinds County. That's a stretch, considering that the Hinds County affidavit voter register remains available for inspection. But look for a conspiracy scenario to emerge that attempts to give the Landrum campaign some cover on what they've already admitted — manufacturing false evidence to bolster Landrum's voting claims.

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ClarionLedger.com - Sid Salter Blog - Landrum: Madison County election commissioner purged voter rolls - A Madison County election commissioner purged some 10,000 names from the Madison County voter rolls over the weekend — and two of the names purged were David and Jill Landrum. After being notified of District 1 Election Commissioner Sue Sautermeister's actions, Madison County Circuit Clerk Lee Westbrook told one of our reporters that she had restored their names to the Madison County rolls and that all of the names would be restored.

David Landrum has been registered to vote in Madison County since Sept. 30, 2007, according to Madison County records. The Madison County election commissioner who took their names off the rolls has yet to explain her actions other than to claim that she was within her rights to purge the rolls. She also hasn't said why she did it, although the purging of voter rolls is a duty of election commissioners.

Sautermeister has some explaining to do.

Yet while the Landrums have a legitimate complaint regarding Madison County, the revelation of the Madison County election commissioner's actions in 2008 does nothing to address the absence of Landrum's voter registration in Hinds County in 2003 and the absence of the couple's signatures from the 2003 Hinds County Precinct 78 affidavit ballot register.
More to come...