Woodville — It will be almost a year after the initial election fight began that Wilkinson County residents will know the final results of the August 2007 Democratic primary election.

Instead of calling off the upcoming Democratic primary election do-over in response to a federal lawsuit, Judge Jim Persons ordered the date moved back to make if fall in compliance with federal law.

Three Wilkinson County residents filed the suit because the April 15 date Persons originally set for the specially-called primary earlier this month did not allow for the required 60 days prior notice for a specially-called election.

In an amendment to his original ruling, Persons ruled that absentee voting for the election would begin June 2.

The primary election will be June 24, and the general election, if needed, will be July 22.

The order states that the winners will be promptly sworn in as soon as the election results are certified.

Persons also appointed two former judges — former Circuit Court Judges Barry Ford and Robert Gibbs — to serve as dual special masters for the election.

Persons ruled in late February that a special master was necessary to conduct the election after widespread allegations of fraud during the election contest.

The contest was filed by incumbent Supervisor Richard Hollins, Sheriff Reginald Jackson and Circuit Clerk Mon Cree Allen against challengers Kirk Smith, Jessie Stewart and Jeanette “Lynn” Tolliver Delaney.

The incumbent candidates filed the contest after the Wilkinson County Democratic Executive Committee decided to throw out all of the absentee, affidavit and curbside ballots for the election after Smith, Stewart and Delaney came to them with allegations of fraud and intimidation during the election.

The decision to toss the ballots was done without the examination of a single ballot, but committee members allege that was because Allen, who was custodian of the ballots at the time, did not allow them to do so.

That decision changed the winning parties from Allen, Hollins and Jackson to Delaney, Smith and Stewart, who were leading in machine-cast votes until the paper ballots were counted.

After an unusually-long contest that lasted from November until late February, Persons decided to not consider the absentee, affidavit and curbside ballots for evidence because it could not be guaranteed they had not been tampered with between August and the beginning of the contest in November.

With those ballots thrown out, the will of Wilkinson County’s voters could not be determined, Persons said.

The votes from the primary election will be certified June 27, and votes from the general election will be certified July 25.