Voters in Webster County and across Mississippi will go to the polls Tuesday for the 2018 general election.
Polls will be open from 7 a.m.-7 p.m. Nov. 6 at county precincts, two of which have changed locations. In the Grady Precinct, voters will now vote in the West Shady Grove Baptist Church fellowship hall on Grady Road. In the Mantee Precinct, voters will now vote in the Mantee Community Center.
Saturday is the last day for in-office absentee voting, when the circuit clerk’s office in the County Office Building will be open from 8 a.m.-noon.
The ballot includes races for the U.S. Senate, U.S. House of Representatives, chancery and circuit judges, and school board.
Senate, House
Four candidates are running in each of two Senate seats up for grabs. In one race, incumbent Republican Roger Wicker of Tupelo is seeking re-election to a second full term that will expire in 2024.
He faces Democratic nominee state Rep. David Baria of Bay St. Louis, along with Libertarian Party nominee Danny Bedwell of Columbus, who is a retired U.S. Navy diver, and Reform Party nominee Shawn O’Hara of Hattiesburg.
Four candidates will be on the ballot in a nonpartisan special election for a U.S. Senate term ending in 2020.
They include Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith of Brookhaven. The former ag commissioner was appointed to fill the unexpired term of former U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran, who stepped down from the post in April.
Challenging Hyde-Smith are former municipal candidate Tobey Bartee of Gautier, former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture and former Congressman Mike Espy of Madison, and attorney and Republican state Sen. Chris McDaniel of Ellisville.
Republican incumbent Trent Kelly is seeking re-election to a two-year term in the Mississippi’s 1st Congressional District. His opponents are Democrat Randy Mack Wadkins of Oxford and Reform Party member Tracella Lou O’Hara Hill (Shawn O’Hara’s sister) of Petal in Forrest County.
Judicial Elections
The only contested nonpartisan judicial election will be to replace retiring Chancellor Kenneth Burns in the 14th Chancery Court District, Place 1, which includes Webster County.
The five candidates for chancery judge are Houston attorneys Elizabeth Fox Ausbern and R. Todd Bennett, Okolona attorney Gene Barton, Starkville Municipal Judge Rodney Faver and Starkville attorney Lee Ann Turner. This additional information on each candidate comes mainly from their their print campaign ads and literature:
Ausbern has been practicing law since 1993 and has served as Houston city attorney since 1999. She has also served as counsel to the Chickasaw County Board of Supervisors and Chickasaw County attorney.
Barton, who has practiced law almost 40 years, states he has handled every type of case in Chancery Court. He has also served as a Youth Court prosecutor and a public defender for the criminal court system, and now serves as the elected Chickasaw County prosecuting attorney.
Bennett has been practicing since 2007 and is a partner in Bennett & Bennett Law Firm. He says his practice has been almost exclusively in the chancery courts.
Faver has been Starkville’s municipal judge for the past nine years, and is a partner in the law firm of Ward, Rogers & Faver. The candidate says his 30 years of combined experience include 20 years focused directly on chancery matters.
Turner has been practicing family law and other areas of law that fall under the jurisdiction of the chancery courts for more than 22 years. She has served in a part-time Chancery Court judicial position in Oktibbeha County hearing mental health and drug and alcohol commitments as well as youth court cases for the last nine years. Additionally, she served six years as the staff attorney for the 14th Chancery Court.
Circuit judges Joey Loper and George Mitchell Jr. are unopposed in the 5th Circuit Court District, as is Donna Barnes for Court of Appeals judge District 1, Position 2.
School Board
Only districts 3 and 4 will be electing Webster County School Board members, who serve six-year staggered terms. Only one candidate qualified in each non-partisan race and therefore will take office unopposed in January.
They are incumbent Jimmy Hood in District 3 and Marilynn S. Brown in District 4, whose incumbent, Scott Hollenhead, is not seeking re-election.
Runoffs that are necessary will be Nov. 27. Anyone with questions about the election or voting may call the circuit clerk’s office at 258-6287.
