Roland scheduled to meet with election officials Thursday

Roland lost to Ford by a vote of 4,333 to 4,320. Ford’s brother, John Ford, represented the Memphis Senate district for 31 years before resigning in May following his indictment on federal bribery and extortion charges.

Roland has called for an investigation of the election results, citing the narrow margin of victory in a heavily Democratic district that has elected Fords to office for decades.

“We’re not making any accusations; we just want to see the evidence,” Roland said Wednesday.

Gregory Duckett, chairman of the Shelby County Election Commission, said the meeting is intended to get a better understanding of Roland’s requests for records.

For example, Duckett said, copies of paperwork from the election could take weeks to prepare. But some of Roland’s requests may not be legally allowed, he said.

Last week the state attorney general’s office rejected a state Republican party request for all voting machines to be seized.

Although the commission is scheduled to meet Monday to certify the results, Duckett said Roland can still consult the state Senate about contesting the election.