Screenshots began circulating this weekend of a comment posted on social media by a Mississippi election commissioner in which she seemingly drew a distinction between “the blacks” and “people.”
Gail Harrison Welch, an election commissioner in District 1 in Jones County, Mississippi, according to her Facebook profile, made the comments in response to another user’s post on voter registration. Welch’s comments have since been deleted, but social media users took screenshots of the comments.
“I’m concerned about voter registration in Mississippi,” Welch said, according to The Hattiesburg American. “The blacks are having lots [of] events for voter registration. People in Mississippi have to get involved, too.”
“The blacks are having lots of events for voter registration. People in Mississippi have to get involved too.”
—Jones County (MS) Election Commissioner Gail Harrison Welch pic.twitter.com/kbrPFqZMUe
— Ashton Pittman (@ashtonpittman) June 28, 2020
It is unclear when Welch made the comments. Images of the post were first circulated over the weekend. (RELATED: Savannah Police Officer Fired For Facebook Post About Privilege That Was Criticized As Racist)
Welch, who has held her position for 20 years, said she did not intend for her comments to be racist, The American reported.
“We’ve always in the past had whites really participating in registering to vote,” she said according to The American. “So many people don’t seem to be concerned about [voting].”
She also called the post an “error” saying it was intended to be a private message, according to The American.
“I’m an Election Commissioner in Jones county, working hard to insure fair, honest elections,” said Welch in a June 15 post.
Welch had been introducing herself in a public Facebook group named #WalkAway Campaign. The titular campaign is a “movement, dedicated to sharing the stories of people who can no longer accept the current ideology of liberalism and what the Democratic Party has become.”
Welch did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Mississippi Republican Gov. Tate Reeves signs the bill retiring the last state flag with the Confederate battle emblem during a ceremony at the Governor’s Mansion in Jackson, Mississippi on June 30, 2020. (Rogelio V. Solis/ POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
Meanwhile, Republican Gov. Tate Reeves signed a bill Tuesday removing the Confederate emblem from the Mississippi flag.
“This is not a political moment to me but a solemn occasion to lead our Mississippi family to come together and move on,” Reeves said, according to The Washington Post.
Jones District 1 has a population of 12,810 people, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. Roughly 65% of the district’s population is white.
Reeves did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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