NAACP Vote Questioned

On Saturday, November 19, 2022, the NAACP Monroe/Ouachita local chapter, held an election for officers. Several candidates were vying to unseat current president, Rev. Ambrose Douzart. Initial results of the votes showed that Rev. Douzart won with 35 votes, while Rev. Tharris Bishop, 10 votes, Mrs. Lynetta Whitehurst, 16 votes, and Ms. Marie Brown, 24 votes. That number of votes tallied is different from the total number of members in the local branch, perhaps indicating that many members did not cast their vote. An official complaint is in the process of being filed with the national office over how the election was handled. The complaint alleges that many of the NAACP members did not receive ballots, and the system used for voting was down for hours, making voting difficult. Additionally, an NAACP branch official complained that too many people were signing up to join the Monroe/Ouachita branch so that they could vote in the election in an attempt to swing votes in favor of candidates that wanted their vote. There is a request that this matter be turned over to the Chairman of the Committee Membership and unit to begin invalidating the results of the November 19 election and scheduling a new one. NAACP Monroe/Ouachita branch election results: 85 ballots submitted of 169 eligible voters (1 opened) — 50% 158 emails and 43 SMS sent - 0 notices queued and 32 notices undeliverable. There are three sides to every story. This was one side of this story. The Monroe Dispatch welcomes another or the other side of this story.