TUPELO ⢠A Senate committee chairman has blocked further consideration of legislation to clarify an ambiguous residency requirement even as litigation on the issue mounts across the state.
There are now at least four lawsuits in front of three different judges contesting the issue of just what exactly is required by a 2019 law that imposed a two-year residency requirement for local elections.
Litigation over candidate eligibility is ongoing. The first lawsuit was filed in DâIberville, as previously reported by the Daily Journal. There is also a lawsuit in Pass Christian and two in Hattiesburg.
Subscribe to The Session, a Daily Journal politics newsletter
Hattiesburg resident challenges council candidateâs qualifications to run The municipal primary is set for April 6. (Source: WDAM) By Luke Smith | March 2, 2021 at 6:39 PM CST - Updated March 2 at 8:32 PM
HATTIESBURG, Miss. (WDAM) - A Democratic candidateâs qualifications to run for Hattiesburg City Council in the April primary are being challenged by a resident of the ward he seeks to represent.
Joseph Lanford filed the petition in Forrest County Circuit Court on Friday challenging the Democratic Executive Committee of Hattiesburgâs decision that Bradly James Pope Parker is a qualified candidate for Ward 4 councilman.
Lanford, a Ward 4 resident, alleges Parker has not been a resident of Hattiesburg for two years immediately preceding the primary election date in accordance with a Mississippi law passed in 2019 that went into effect in 2020.