NATCHEZ — Municipal judge candidate Carmen Brooks said she missed a campaign finance report deadline because of a mistake by the Natchez City Clerk’s Office, but the city clerk said his office is not to blame.

Brooks said she was given a form when qualifying at the city clerk’s office that stated the deadline to turn in her campaign finance report was May 10.

The actual deadline, which was provided on other candidates’ forms, was May 3.

“And there was some confusion, because they had to scramble a little bit to get the papers,” Brooks said.

City Clerk Donnie Holloway said the first forms initially reflected the incorrect May 10 deadline, but was changed by the office of the Mississippi Secretary of State in April.

Holloway said the forms are not created in his office, but must be sent from the secretary of state.

“I called the secretary of state’s office because I knew the forms could not be right,” Holloway said.

His office mailed copies of the corrected form to all candidates on April 11, Holloway said, and another copy was emailed.

Brooks said she received neither the mailed nor emailed corrected form. She said she was concerned the miscommunication would affect her campaign.

“I had several people contact me saying they were concerned that I had not met the deadline, and they wanted an explanation as to why,” Brooks said. “I understood that it was having an impact on my campaign, unfairly.”

Candidate Felicia Irving, who is running for the Ward 5 alderman seat, also has not turned in a finance report, but said she would submit her campaign finance report on Monday morning.

Irving said that she was aware of the deadline, but because she teaches in Tensas Parish and because she has some donations pending, she has been unable to submit her report to the city clerk’s office.