WOODVILLE &045; Chancery Clerk Thomas Tolliver said he received confirmation this week that Wilkinson County’s redistricting plan had been received by the U.S. Department of Justice for review.

&uot;An official with the Justice Department called me on Monday afternoon and said they received the plan that day,&uot; Tolliver said.

Copies of the proposal were also received via Federal Express in Circuit Clerk Mon Allen’s office on Monday, Tolliver said.

Meanwhile, with the Justice Department reserving 60 days to review the plan, many county officials are concerned the plan will not be approved before the Aug. 5 primary elections.

If the Justice Department returns the plan to the county for more information or revisions, then the 60-day review period starts again when the plan is resubmitted.

Redistricting is required after every census if populations in any district deviate more than 10 percent from the norm. If the new lines are not approved, then the election could be open to legal challenges.

During meetings with the Wilkinson County Board of Supervisors on May 12 and May 19, Jackson consultant Derrick L. Johnson said the Justice Department had agreed to expedite its review of the plan.

Supervisors hired Johnson in 2001 to redraw the district lines and submit the plan to the Justice Department. The board approved the new plan last August.

It is not clear why Wilkinson County’s plan was not submitted to the Justice Department earlier, but May 12 Johnson said he had erroneously mailed the plan to the Justice Department with a redistricting plan for Tallahatchie County.

On May 19 Johnson told supervisors he would resubmit the plan to the Justice Department on May 20.

Last month, a spokesperson for the Justice Department said no record was found that Wilkinson County’s plan had ever arrived with Tallahatchie County’s plan.

As of May 5, the county had paid Johnson a total of $15,870 for his services.

In a related matter, supervisors voted Monday on Allen’s request to fund an extra 200 hours for the county’s five election commissioners to prepare the voter rolls and notify residents of the proposed district line changes for the upcoming elections.