STARKVILLE — A relatively new residency requirement for local election candidates may keep a Ward 7 alderman hopeful off the ballot.
Nedra Lowery, 36, qualified Friday to challenge three-term incumbent Henry Vaughn in the Democratic primary for his seat. But a state law, enacted in January 2020, requires candidates for municipal and county elections to have lived in the district or ward they are hoping to represent for at least two years immediately preceding the election.
While Lowery’s lease for her Louisville Street home indicates she has lived there since March 2018, a local Democratic Party official has confirmed, her voting record and political activity point to her using a legal address in Columbus as recently as 10 months ago.
Lowery ran unsuccessfully in September 2019 in a special election for the Ward 1 city council seat in Columbus after office holder Gene Taylor passed away. That, itself, could disqualify Lowery, Starkville Municipal Democratic Executive Committee Chair Patti Drapala told The Dispatch, since that is fewer than two years before either the April 6 Democratic primary or June 8 general election for city offices this year.
But Lowery also voted at a Lowndes County polling place in the March 2020 primary elections, which included party primaries for the U.S. Presidential race. She first registered to vote in Oktibbeha County in August 2020 and cast her first ballot in Starkville in the November general election.
Party committees certify candidates for the ballot in primary elections, but they must follow state law in doing so. Drapala told The Dispatch the Municipal Democratic Executive Committee would hold its certification meeting Feb. 5 following the deadline for candidates to file qualifying paperwork.
Initially, Drapala said, she accepted Lowery’s lease as proof of residency, but she acknowledges the issue merits further review.
“We will ascertain the truth,” Drapala said. “If she does not meet the residency requirements laid out in state law, we will not certify her to run.”
The “truth,” Lowery said, is that she lived part-time in the rental house in Starkville and a family home in Columbus until last year when she began living full-time in Starkville — which she told The Dispatch on Saturday, a day after she qualified.
She said Wednesday she is not “an aggressive, confrontational person” looking to flout the law, and she plans to seek “a clear understanding” of the residency requirement. If it is proven she can’t legally be included on this year’s ballot, she will accept that. Until then, she remains hopeful the party’s executive committee will allow her to run.
“I’m still the same person either way,” Lowery said. “If I can’t run this term, so be it. I’ll be back in four years, and I’ll be better.”
Incumbent Henry Vaughn said he expects the Democratic Executive Committee to fully investigate the matter, and he will consult his attorney on the proper recourse if Lowery is certified. Until then, he said, he is staying out of it.
“The Democratic Party contacted me and asked If I knew anything about her, and I told them, ‘That’s for y’all to investigate, not me,'” Vaughn said Wednesday. “I don’t know anything about the girl. I’ve never seen the girl.
“If (the party committee) allows her to illegally qualify, that’s on them,” he added. “But that wouldn’t be fair.”
Equally unfair, Lowery said, is a law that restricts people who want to be civically involved from running for public office.
“It’s crazy, and I think it’s a way to keep good people from running,” Lowery said. “I don’t think it’s fair at all, because here I am wanting to step in and make a difference. If I can’t run, I can’t run. But I’m still going to work to help the community.”
Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.
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