MOSS POINT, Miss. -- Rep. Jeramey Anderson held a town hall Tuesday night to better prepare the community for the upcoming school board elections to be held in November.
"We want to make sure people are educated in the upcoming elections for school board and there was a lot of confusion the first go round so I wanted to clear up any confusion or misunderstanding and allow the community to ask questions about how we got to this point, where we're going from here and how can they get involved," Anderson said.
Senate Bill 2463 divides the city into five voting districts. The board of trustees of the municipal separate school district shall consist of five members, each to be elected for a term of four years.
Some felt the bill was adopted an enacted too soon because the law was proposed in April 2017 and went into effect July 1, 2017.
Former mayor Billy Broomfield criticized Anderson for his support of SB2463 saying it was a "bad piece of legislation" and that it was "not necessary for the school district."
The first vote was held in November 2017 for districts one, three and five and the upcoming vote will take place for districts two and four. District three is also up for election to fill the interim appointment of Barbara Dumas-Marshall made by Sup. Melton Harris after a candidate did not qualify to run.
Anderson said the town hall was necessary to be held earlier to make up for the mistakes of last year's voting process.
"While there wasn't a huge turnout, we have aldermen and representatives here from the school district here who are well-known in the community and it is my hope that the people who came will disseminate the information out to their communities," Anderson said. "What's most important is having people who are eager to make change in their communities and I think we had that tonight."
Aldermen Sherwood Bradford, Ennit Morris, and David Chapman were in attendance and said they feel much more prepared this year, compared to last.
"In our ward meeting, we're going to have a 'Meet the Candidate' night, this way the community will have the opportunity to get to know the people vying for their vote," Bradford said. "This way, they can decide where a person stands on issues they deem most important."
"What's most important this year is that districts are clearly defined so everyone has an idea of how they will be affected, where they need to vote, and who is seeking to represent them where as last time, everything was such a blur and we were in a big rush," Chapman and Morris said.
"If we fail, we go back to the drawing board and try again," Anderson said. "I'm not afraid to fail and neither should this city. A well-educated electorate is the best electorate."
Those interested in vying for a seat in either of the three districts have until 5 p.m. on Sept. 7, 2018 to submit their application. Voting is set to take place Nov. 6.