Atty. Stephanie Burton, who is running in a high-profile race for Jackson County prosecutor, was mistakenly identified as a former Republican. That’s not true. She is a Democrat and has never run as a Republican for office as the article incorrectly states.
In a sentence, near the bottom of a very informative article about Burton’s qualifications for the job of Jackson County Prosecutor and her vision for how she would transform the department to better serve the people of Jackson County, The Community voice included an incorrect statement that Burton had previously run for office as a Republican.
As a publication with a mission of “filling information gaps on issues of importance to the African American communities we serve,” we often supplement the coverage provided by our small staff with available and informative news from public news services.
These news sources are typically quite reliable however, a 2022 story from one of those services incorrectly identified Burton as a Republican who had filed to run for a seat on the Jackson County Commission.
We ran that story on our website in 2022 and our reporter picked up this incorrect fact while conducting research for our recent story. We take full responsibility for this incorrect reporting.
We found it necessary to go beyond our stated correction policy in response to this error because we hear some individuals are using this information to convince people Atty. Burton is not a “Real” Democrat.
We strongly suggest you read the story on Atty. Burton and find out more about her and her vision for the Jackson County Prosecutor’s office. That was the purpose of the article and still is; to provide our readers with quality, fair and impartial information about the candidates for this important office so that they can make informed decisions.
We also wrote a story on her primary competitor. After you’ve read both articles, make your decision on the facts. and by all means vote on Aug. 6.
The Community Voice team apologizes for this mistake but hope this issue and our retraction bring additional attention to the facts of this race and its importance.
