WOODVILLE — Late in the evening Wednesday and right up until midnight, several Wilkinson County candidates worked feverishly to examine what they think may be tainted elections boxes.

Sheriff candidate Jessie Stewart, board of supervisors candidates Kirk Smith and Wally Cavin and circuit clerk candidate Lynn Delaney had sought to examine the absentee ballots from the Aug. 7 election Tuesday but were denied access to the elections boxes by current Circuit Clerk Mon Cree Allen.

Since the election, questions about the absentee ballots — which reportedly turned the tide in three of the four contested elections — and how they were verified have been raised.

Delaney said Tuesday several of the elections boxes did not meet federal election standards at the time they were brought in, and Smith voiced concern about an absentee vote turnout in his district that was nearly 700 percent higher than in past elections.

Allen cited a temporary restraining order against him saying he could not be a part of the examination process as a reason why he could not carry the ballot boxes to the courtroom where the examination was to take place.

The candidates and their lawyers took the matter to the Mississippi State Supreme Court, and Wednesday were granted an order by the court to allow them an examination of the boxes.

However, the 12 day period after an election in which candidates are allowed to examine elections ended at midnight Wednesday, and the court refused to extend the deadline.

The order to allow the examination was reportedly faxed to Allen at 4:59 p.m. and another copy hand-delivered at 5:15 p.m., but Allen did not reportedly go to the courtroom until 6:40 p.m.

From then on, he used what some in the courtroom alleged to be delay tactics, which included bringing undisputed boxes to the courtroom.

Several of the boxes reportedly did not have the absentee, affadavit or curbside ballots in them, and several of the elections black bags were also missing ballots.

It was reportedly 10:46 p.m. before Allen brought in the disputed Woodville second precinct, but it too was missing the absentee ballots.

Allen went to retrieve the black bag for the precinct, but reportedly got the wrong one.

It was 11 before the correct bag for the precinct was brought to the courtroom, leaving the candidates only 59 minutes to examine the 127 absentee ballots, sources at the courthouse said.

The two disputed precincts — the second and fourth Woodville precincts — made up almost 53 percent of the absentee ballots cast.

Wednesday, the high court also lifted the restraining order against Allen and Sheriff Reginald Jackson, Wilkinson County Democratic Committee President Easter Prater and District Four Supervisor Robert Morgan.

The temporary injunction was originally issued by the Hinds County Chancery Court, which the Supreme Court ruled did not have the jurisdiction to issue the order.

The order would have allowed a group of the Wilkinson County Democratic Committee — headed by Centreville resident Ann Greer — to examine the absentee ballots cast in the election.

Greer was elected president of the county Democratic committee by a simple majority at a meeting in late July, but county level officials and the state Democratic party did not recognize the election.

All of the committee’s 31 members — of which only 19 attended the meeting — were reportedly notified of the meeting by certified mail.

Prater, who became president of the committee after the former chair died in April, remained the officially recognized leader of the committee.

None of Greer’s supporters were reportedly not allowed to work the polls on election day.