When the Democratic Municipal Executive Committee meets Monday, members will have to examine whether any absentee ballots were cast improperly in the May 2 primary.

The committee will hold a hearing at 9 a.m. at city council chambers on South Pearl Street on Alderman George Harden’s protest of the Ward 2 ballots.

Harden, who lost the primary election to James &uot;Ricky&uot; Gray by 107 votes, is protesting the results of the election.

Harden’s petition alleges that 85 absentee ballots were improperly cast and should not have been counted by the committee because they did not include an envelope showing the application for voting absentee had been properly secured or mailed to the city clerk.

David Blount, a spokesman for the Mississippi Secretary of State’s Office, said the municipal election commission will have to examine the procedure to determine if any were cast improperly.

Larry Gardner, chairman of the Municipal Election Commission, said he checked with the secretary of state’s office, who told him that no state statute requires that an application must be secured or sealed in an envelope.

Absentee ballots can be cast in office or by mail. In both cases, voters need to fill out an application. When casting ballots by mail, eligible absentee voters mail an application to the city clerk’s office. The city clerk’s office then mails a ballot to the voter, who mails it back to the city clerk’s office.

When the ballot returns to the office, city clerk personnel need to check the signatures on the application and the ballot to verify that they match.

&uot;The verification process really only applies in the mailing stage,&uot; Blount said. &uot;When you’re checking (the signatures) it’s a fraud prevention method.&uot;

When pollworkershandle absentee ballots after the polls close on an election day, they have certain procedures to follow.

They announce the name, address and precinct as shown on each ballot envelope and placed in a rejected ballot envelope.

If everything is in order, pollworkers must open the envelope and remove the ballot without examining it and deposit it in the ballot box with the other ballots.

Harden’s petition also claims 72 people were allowed to vote in the Ward 2 election &uot;who were not in fact bona fide residents of Ward 2, and in fact, some were not even residents of the City of Natchez, Adams County or the State of Mississippi,&uot; the petition says.