Elections shouldn’t be this difficult, should they? The democratic process of electing our county government suddenly seems like black magic in Southwest Mississippi.

In Adams, Jefferson and Wilkinson counties the shenanigans of the last couple of weeks are truly nothing short of astonishing.

4Two circuit clerks who took public money are still in the running for re-election. One of them pleaded guilty but worked a deal out with a judge to allow him to run for office again. The other one was convicted and faces serious time in a federal prison.

4Adams County’s election results took a week to finish counting and not before a shouting match erupted at the courthouse. Now candidates are questioning the integrity of the entire process. Who could blame them?

4In Wilkinson County, all kinds of craziness has occurred. Several candidates have requested the right to examine the ballots. Allegations have flown that a person’s house was torched in an election-related act.

What’s gone wrong here? Has the hunger for political power and money corrupted the system?

When the smoke clears, we need to seriously consider ways to alleviate some of this nonsense.

Perhaps circuit clerks need to be hired or at least be compensated in a more careful system than our current one, which seems to encourage corruption.

And perhaps we need mandatory voter ID in Mississippi and more tight controls over absentee ballots.

We hope that through the frustration of all the ridiculous, unproductive stuff that’s been happening, voters will get fed up and force some positive changes to our system.