Dr. Jennifer Payne-Parrish, who served on the South Orange-Maplewood Board of Education from 2007-2012, is alleging election interference and misogyny at the NAACP Oranges and Maplewood branch, after a ballot that showed her winning the presidency of the local chapter was wiped out in a followup election re-vote.
Darryl Jeffries who recently won reelection as President of the local chapter — on the third and final ballot — denies all allegations, but agrees that issues related to the national organization getting involved in administering local elections opened the door to questioning results.
In an opinion piece submitted to Village Green (see the full piece attached below), Payne-Parrish writes, “What if Americans had to vote for President three times over the course of 5 months? What would it do to our democracy? What would it say about our electoral process? I believe in democracy; I also believe in the elimination of oppression for all people and the work of the NAACP.”
Payne-Parrish reports that her name was omitted from the ballot on the first branch election on November 17, 2022, despite being the “only presidential candidate advanced by the nominating committee.” After her team successfully petitioned the local and national offices, a second election was scheduled and held on December 1. Payne-Parrish narrowly won, 76-74.
Jeffries then contested the results, but Payne-Parrish says it was unclear on what grounds since the bylaws contain no contingency for runoff elections in the case of a close vote (and Payne-Parrish won more than 50 percent of the vote). She reports that a third election was then held in March — she says with no reason given — and that Jeffries won that election handily by a vote of 85-69.
Jeffries says that the local branch submitted Payne-Parrish’s name for the first ballot. He also told Village Green that some eligible voters did not receive their ballots in the second election, prompting the need for a third election.
Payne-Parrish has shared screenshots of the results from the Dec. 1 and March 16 elections, which show 24 more eligible voters in the December 1 election vs. the March 16 election (404 vs. 380) and a similar number of ballots cast (151 to 155).
Village Green has reached out to the national NAACP organization via email and phone and will update this story with any response.
“[I]t’s no surprise who or what won, misogyny,” writes Payne-Parrish. “Election integrity is critical to a democracy, so too is the role of women in leadership. Leadership cannot be handed to women simply because of our gender, but it also should not be hindered. It may be sheer coincidence that all the decision makers were men; but maybe it isn’t. … We must do better. Now is the time for the NAACP to reflect on its flawed election processes to be better equipped to fight inequality nationally.”
In response, Jeffries said that were “errors and omissions” by the the national organization leading to the need to re-administer the vote. He denied allegations of misogyny, pointing to a leadership team that includes women in the roles of 1st Vice President, Secretary, Assistant Secretary and Treasurer. “We have 11 out of our 20 committee chairs and officers — more than half are women in the leadership in the Oranges and Maplewood. Far from misogyny, it’s quite egalitarian,” said jeffries.
“There was no misbehavior on our part,” said Jeffries who said that other chapters also had issues with the national administration of local elections. “We were frantically letting national know.” Jeffries said that the problems stem from the national NAACP getting involved in local elections. “National was not ready for prime time,” said Jeffries. “Our election was botched. We had two botched elections.”
“We provided the accurate slate and the accurate names of the members in good standing that were eligible to vote — on two occasions, which was acknowledged by national via email. Even in the third election we had to fight vigorously to get ballots for those who didn’t get their ballots. We really had no hotline to national,” said Jeffries.
Jeffries said election integrity is central to his and the NAACP’s mission: “With our biggest advocacy being voting rights, how can you disenfranchise your own members?’ Jeffries asked.
“I just finished my first two-year term. [Payne-Parrish] served as my 1st Vice President,” said Jeffries , adding that the OMNAACP is the oldest chapter in the state and that it was growing “exponentially” on his watch. “We have a lot of women and young people in leadership. They are the future of the NAACP.”
“This is an unfortunate situation,” said Jeffries. “She took an opportunity to smear the branch, the state conference and the national organization in her efforts to advance her own personal agenda.”
Payne-Parrish countered that misogyny can still exist — even with women on the board. “Women are allowed to exist in different levels of leadership but never move into the decision-making levels of leadership.”
“All the decision makers in the elections process were male,” said Payne-Parrish.
She also said that she was unswayed by arguments that going public with her complaints would be a bad look for the NAACP, saying the “Let’s keep it in the family” ethos was a dangerous one: “Many times when you keep it in the family, women don’t hear about it either. Nothing ever changes.”
