Hinds County man finds voting machines after it fell off delivery truck

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) - So here’s something you don’t hear every day. On Friday, a Hinds County man found a voting machine lying in the road. The voting machine is believed to have fallen off a delivery truck that was heading to drop it off ahead of Tuesday’s primary election.

Jerry Ainsworth said he was driving between Crystal Springs and Port Gibson when the truck drove past him. He said he saw something fall out of the back. When he went to see what it was, to his surprise, it was a voting machine.

Ainsworth said he immediately brought it back to his house and reported what he found. Hinds County Election Commissioners Kidada Brown and Yvonne Horton then came out to investigate. After taking a careful look at the machine, they determined that the machine does not belong to Hinds County. Now, these women are looking to return the machine before Tuesday’s primary election.

“We want to have a safe and secure election, and if we have people out delivering our machines, we don’t need any hiccups for Tuesday,” said Brown, who represents District 1. “We need everything in place and delivered correctly. When I got that phone call, I had to stop what I was doing and come right out here to see what was going on.”

“Tomorrow (Saturday), we will be able to determine where it goes so we can call those election commissioners so they can get it because it definitely needs to be replaced since the screen is broken on it, so that’s what we’re going to do,” said Horton, who represents District 4.

“When it comes to our voting rights and having free elections, I’m extremely concerned if our voting machines are laying on the side of the road,” said Ainsworth. “I want a good, free election for our state. That’s what I want.”

Brown said they’ve now discovered that the machine belongs to Copiah County. She said officials from Copiah County will come to Hinds County to retrieve the machine over the weekend.

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