By STEVE KNOX
Times Staff
Blytheville City Councilman and Mayoral candidate John Mayberry has joined the election lawsuit filed by Osceola businessman James “Crab” Watson.
The lawsuit contends Mississippi County Clerk Janice Currie failed to count 370 absentee ballots from across the county received by mail.
Currie allegedly did not count them because they failed to have identification and therefore declared those ballots to be invalid. However, the Arkansas legislature amended the law regarding those type of ballots last year. Those ballots are to be counted as provisional ballots.
Named in the lawsuit are the Mississippi County Election Commission, Chairman Thomas M. Wiktorek, Commissioners Candice Denny and Boyd Anthony Thomas, Osceola Mayor elect Joe Harris, Jr., Blytheville Mayor elect Melisa Logan and Mississippi County Clerk Janice Currie.
The lawsuit contends “Currie’s actions disenfranchised more than 300 citizens of the right to vote.” Wat- son’s suit contends those actions “caused irreparable harm to the sanctity of our Constitutional Democracy and awarding any office to any political candidate with- out counting all legally cast ballots is unconstitutional under Arkansas law and a violation of both Arkansas and federal law.”
The suit contends counting the uncounted 370 ballots cast aside by Currie could bring Watson or another candidate into a runoff situation.
Mayberry just missed being in a runoff with Logan in the Blytheville Mayor’s race. It is possible that a runoff might yet to be declared pending the outcome of the lawsuit. The election commission had initially thrown out two votes on election day. However, it was ruled that was improper and the Blytheville vote was recounted with Logan narrowly avoiding a runoff with Mayberry.
The Osceola Times contacted Mayberry for comment Friday. He said, “All I have to say is the process we use is flawed because nobody wants to follow the law.”