Ill Candidate Criticizes NAACP Election : Organizations: Tonight’s vote for the county chapter’s presidency was called after an earlier result was nullified.

A challenger for the presidency of the local NAACP branch on Thursday criticized election organizers for not delaying tonight’s vote even though they knew his leg was amputated and he could not campaign.

The election--set after balloting last December was nullified by the NAACP’s national board--will finally settle a dispute over who is the legitimate president of the Ventura County chapter.

But challenger Fred Jones, whose leg was amputated July 29 because of complications from diabetes, said officials refused to reschedule the election to give him time to recover so he could campaign.

“I’m a candidate of record and the appellate (who) overturned the election,” said Jones, of Oxnard. “But I was told that the election had to go forward and it had to be on the 23rd. It’s a fait accompli as to who’s going to win.”

Jones, who is trying to unseat longtime chapter President John R. Hatcher III, also charged that the campaign has not been run according to the bylaws of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People. An official who is running the election denied the charges.

Jones made similar allegations last December, when he first ran against Hatcher, also of Oxnard. Jones complained to the NAACP’s national board in Baltimore about alleged election irregularities, including balloting in too many places and a delay in the ballot count.

Last month, at the NAACP’s annual convention, the organization’s national board overturned the election and ordered a new one. The board appointed one of its members, John Mance of Granada Hills, to conduct the second election.

Despite Mance’s appointment, Jones is charging that some of the same violations have occurred again, such as lack of notification of all 200 branch members of the election.

Jones also said that the starting time for the branch’s monthly meeting has been moved up two hours to 6 p.m. for the election, and that chapter members from eastern Ventura County may not have time to vote. And he said he was denied access to a roster of members’ names and addresses.

Jones said Mance knew of his amputation, yet scheduled the election for tonight anyway.

However, Mance said he set the election before he knew that Jones was in the hospital. “I would be unhappy, to say the least, if anyone thinks I set that meeting knowing Fred Jones was not going to be able to attend,” he said. “I wouldn’t do that.”

Mance said he asked the national board to notify all local members of the new election, which is being held at the Oxnard Community Center.

“I’d like to think everyone entitled to vote received a letter,” Mance said. He scheduled the election to begin at 6 p.m., instead of 8, because he wanted to give people more time to vote. He said he would not close the balloting until perhaps 8:30.

“The results of this election will be final,” Mance said. He said he has known both Hatcher and Jones for more than 30 years, and their dispute is unfortunate.

“I hope that someone wins who cares about the NAACP,” Mance said. “That’s all I care about.”

FYI

The election for presidency of the NAACP’s Ventura County chapter will be held at 6 p.m. tonight in the Thousand Oaks Room of the Oxnard Community Center, 800 Hobson Way. Only members who were eligible to vote in the December, 1990, election and whose memberships are current will be allowed to vote.