Latest news with #GulfportMunicipalElectionCommission
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Gulfport council member's candidacy challenged. Here's how the commission ruled
Gulfport Councilwoman Ella Holmes-Hines broke into a broad smile after a contentious hearing that affirmed she is an eligible general election candidate for the Ward 3 seat. The Gulfport Municipal Election Commission's decision before a full house on Wednesday means that the city's longest-serving council person will start her eighth term on July 1. She bested two opponents in the Democratic primary and faces no opposition in the June 3 general election. The decision also will allow general-election ballots to be printed so that absentee voting can begin, hopefully by Monday, at Gulfport City Hall. Holmes-Hines said that she hopes to be first in line. The commission also had to decide an election challenge Tuesday involving the Ward 6 seat, ruling that Democratic challenger Carrissa Corbett would be on the ballot with Republican incumbent Flowers. City attorney Jeff Bruni, left, consults with members of the Gulfport Municipal Election Commission during a challenge to the candidacy of Ward 3 City Council incumbent Ella Holmes-Hines, a Democrat. Commission members Stephanie Norris, seated, and Cindy Creel, standing, look on. Elect ion opponent stresses 'democracy' One of her primary opponents, Ronnie Matthew Harris, challenged her right to appear on the general election ballot. Holmes-Hines had failed to file all campaign contribution reports for the past five years as required by law, his campaign noted in the challenge. 'This hearing today is about democracy,' Harris said. ' . . . 'We are not here to be spiteful. What we're here to do is fulfill our responsibilities in running a campaign.' The attorney for Ella Holmes-Hines, Tim Holleman, retorted: 'Democracy is about who has the most votes. That's democracy.' He noted that Holmes-Hines got 55% of the vote in the Democratic primary, while Harris had 29%. They were trailed by Patrick R. White. Holleman also called the election challenge 'bogus.' After hearing from both sides, the commission took a one-hour break so that Holmes-Hines could produce two missing campaign-contribution reports from 2021, as the law allows. Once the commission had the reports in hand, they unanimously declared Holmes-Hines an eligible candidate. Ronnie Matthew Harris, who lost the Democratic primary for Gulfport's Ward 3 City Council seat to incumbent Ella Holmes-Hines, appears Wednesday morning before the Gulfport Municipal Election Commission. Harris challenged her eligibility as a candidate ahead of the June 3 general election. Campaign sign in voting precinct Despite the missing reports, the Democratic Executive Committee, which oversaw the party primary, insisted that Holmes-Hines had met all the qualifications for being on the party's ballot. The Harris campaign had another objection to Holmes-Hines candidacy. She was inside a voting precinct on primary election day with one of her campaign signs, which is prohibited by law. A picture captured the moment. But the city's attorney, Jeff Bruni, noted that the election commission could not delve into primary election issues. The city's election commission runs only the general election. Holmes-Hines told the Sun Herald after the hearing that she was carrying the sign under her arm while outside and about to head to another precinct. The poll workers were having problems with the ballot scanner and asked for her help. She said she forgot the sign was under her arm when she went inside. 'When I hear 'Help', it doesn't matter what I'm doing,' Holmes-Hines said, saying she dropped everything to see what was needed.
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Her right to run for Gulfport council was disputed. Full house applauds decision
Carrissa Corbett broke into a smile and pumped her arms in the air when a municipal election board qualified her Tuesday as a candidate for Ward 6 City Council in Gulfport. Incumbent Republican Flowers challenged Corbett's candidacy, saying she has not lived in Gulfport for the required two years before the June 3 election. Corbett says she's lived in Ward 6 since 2019. Through her attorneys, Warren Conway and Maxine Lawson-Conway, Corbett presented 130 pages of documents to establish her Ward 6 residency. The Gulfport Municipal Election Commission met Tuesday morning before a full house to determine whether Corbett is a qualified candidate, based on residency. The crowd applauded when the commission qualified her. But their elation was short-lived. Carrissa Corbett, right, a Democratic candidate for Ward 6 City Council in Gulfort, sits with her attorney, Warren Conway, as incument Republican Flowers challenges her residency. Election commission hears challenge After the declaration, the commission heard Flowers' challenge of her residency. Flowers maintains that Corbett has been living in Long Beach, where she claimed a home for the 2024-25 school year and where her son was attending school. She gave the school district two Long Beach leases and a utility bill with a Long Beach home address as proof that she and her son were residents, according to documents presented to the commission by Malcolm Jones, the attorney representing Flowers. One of Flowers' biggest arguments was that Corbett put a post office box, rather than a home address, on her qualifying statement for the Gulfport City Council race. 'She created a situation where she has to prove her qualifications by absolute proof with no contingencies,' Jones told the commission. Corbett attorney Warren Conway told the commission that Corbett's son got kicked out of Long Beach schools the day after municipal party primaries in Gulfport because he didn't live in that city. Corbett's documentation for her Ward 6 residency in Gulfport included bank statements, leases, bills and sworn statements from her mother, with whom she lives, and neighbors. During a break, Lawson-Conway told the Sun Herald: 'I think it's fair to say that Mr. Flowers is afraid of his opponent and afraid to have her on the ballot because if she's on the ballot, she's going to be elected.' After the hearing, the commission voted unanimously a second time that Corbett is a qualified candidate for the Ward 6 City Council seat. 'All we want is for her to be placed on the ballot and let the people decide,' election commission member Brenda Matthews said at the hearing's conclusion. 'Mr. Flowers has been on the council for years. So we need a change. We need Ms. Carrissa to be on the ballot again so the people can decide.' Both Corbett and Flowers won primary races to compete in the general election.
Yahoo
19-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Gulfport has chosen a new Ward 5 councilmember in special election. Here are the results
Voters in Gulfport's Ward 5 on Tuesday elected longtime city Planning Commission member BJ Sellers to represent them on City Council. Sellers earned 419 votes to claim the race, according to unofficial results. Real estate broker and firm owner Holly Gibbs earned 214 votes and retired registered nurse Don Harden earned 41. The special election followed the departure of Ward 5 Councilman Myles Sharp, who timed his resignation so that voters would choose his temporary replacement rather than having someone appointed. The ward includes a mix of neighborhoods and businesses, running almost the entire length of the city's east side. Sellers served for 18 years on Gulfport's Planning Commission before giving up the seat in December to run for the City Council. Sellers, 60, has said he believes police officers and firefighters should receive a better benefits package, wants to improve infrastructure throughout the city and wants to make sure development is attractive, especially along Ward 5's Cowan-Lorraine corridor, a gateway to the city. Sellers will serve less than five months because regular municipal elections will be held in the spring for four-year terms that begin July 1. All three candidates in the special election, along with resident Derek Bullock, have qualified to run in the Republican primary during the regular election. Eighteen absentee ballots still need to be counted in Tuesday's race. Ferrell Alman, chair of the Gulfport Municipal Election Commission, said the results will not be official until the deadline for absentee ballots next Tuesday at 5 p.m.
Yahoo
06-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Gulfport City Council candidate disqualified from special election. Here's what happened
Derek Bullock has been disqualified as a candidate in the Feb. 18 special election for Gulfport's Ward 5 City Council seat, but he plans to appeal the decision. The Gulfport Municipal Election Commission made the decision in a meeting Wednesday morning. Bullock plans to appeal at a hearing set Feb. 11 at City Hall. The commission's decision, if it stands, leaves three candidates in the race to replace Myles Sharp, who recently resigned. The election commission had previously qualified Bullock for the race, but members changed their minds after Margaret Murdock, an attorney for the city, looked further into the law. Bullock was disqualified because, the commission decided, he has not been a resident of Ward 5 for two years, as state law began requiring in 2021. Bullock previously lived in Ward 4. He moved in August 2023 to a new address that became part of Ward 5 in September 2023, after the city redrew ward lines to correspond with population changes. But the law says a municipal candidate must reside in their ward for two years before the date of the election, which meant he needed to reside in Ward 5 by February 2023. His attorney, Malcolm Jones, argued before the commission vote that the law doesn't disqualify Bullock. Gulfport was supposed to adopt new ward lines within six months of the U.S. Census being released but waited two years, Jones said. He said the special circumstances of redistricting should allow Bullock's candidacy, as there are exceptions to the two-year requirement. 'You have the ability to go ahead and say, 'This person qualifies,' and give the voters a chance to decide what they want,' Jones told commissioners. After the meeting, Bullock said: 'It is a special case and special cases require special thought. We believe we have the law on our side.' Candidates qualified by the commission to run for the Ward 5 seat are real estate broker and firm owner Holly Gibbs, retired registered nurse Don Harden, and longtime city Planning Commission member BJ Sellers, a paving company general manager.
