-PJ
MCdaniel’s lawyers filed petitions for Writs of Mandamus in 19 counties. They won in 4 counties and then took Harrison county to the MS Supreme Court so they could apply the clear argument to all the rest of the counties without appearing in each county for a hearing. However, the MS Supreme Court ruled the poll books are not defined as part of the ballot box materials. This was an error.
A Motion of Reconsideration has been filed in MS Supreme Court arguing that poll books are not simply printouts of voter registrations broken down by precinct level. The poll books are kept at a table by registered volunteers to check voter eligibility when they come from the line at precinct voting stations. Then a mark is made in the poll book next to the voter’s names to indicate the voter appeared and voted. The poll books become tally sheets for the election and tally sheets are defined as part of the materials of the ballot box. Tally sheets are in fact part of the ballot box materials and therefore McDaniel has all rights to review the poll book/tally sheets.
Where the MS Supreme Court erred is in not understanding that poll books are used to keep a tally of voters and therefore are the election’s tally sheets. When the definition of ballot box materials (which lists tally sheets as part) failed to list the term ‘poll books’ as part, the MS Supreme Court ruled that poll books were not part of the ballot box materials as defined in MS State law and were therefore subject to the MS Public Records Disclosure Act.