[8/7/03]While most nominations were decided Tuesday, Warren County and other area voters will be invited back to the polls to decide some runoffs on Aug. 26.

Also, the race for Warren County prosecutor has been decided without voter involvement since Clyde Emil Ellis has withdrawn from the race, leaving Richard Johnson as the only candidate.

Ellis, 36, a 10-year Vicksburg attorney, was seeking his first public office. Johnson, 49, had run in previous county elections, including in races for judgeships of county court and justice court. He will replace Marcie Southerland, 50, who is serving an interim appointment in the post.

The only runoff to be decided in Warren County will be the Republican nominee for state treasurer. The candidates are Tate Reeves and Wayne Burkes, seeking to replace departing treasurer Marshall Bennett.

Reeves led the three-candidate field in Tuesday’s Republican primary for treasurer, capturing 49 percent of the vote statewide. Burkes received 31 percent, and Andrew Ketchings, who was eliminated, 20 percent.

The runoff will be statewide, and the only eligible voters are those who did not vote Tuesday or who voted the Republican ballot. Those who voted as Democrats Tuesday are ineligible.

Sharkey County

Sharkey County voters will return to select a Democratic nominee for sheriff. In Tuesday’s voting, six candidates were vying to move forward to the general election, but none took a majority.

Part-time Rolling Fork Police Officer Lindsey Adams received 756 votes to advance to a runoff with incumbent Sheriff Jacob Cartlidge, who had 732. To avoid the runoff, a candidate would have had to get more than 50 percent of the vote.

Adams or Cartlidge will face independents Joe Ford, former sheriff defeated eight years ago by Cartlidge; Alton Norris, a former game warden; police officer Johnny Spand and former Justice Court Judge Ellis Willard.

Willard, who was elected as a Justice Court judge in 1995 and re-elected in 1999, had been accused of more than 24 counts of misconduct by the Mississippi Commission on Judicial Performance, including an attempt to improperly influence former Warren County Judge Gerald Hosemann, and was removed from office in 2001 by the Supreme Court.

He is also currently facing several misdemeanor charges of hunting violations and has been charged with receiving stolen property, a felony. The charges are expected to go before the next term of the Sharkey County grand jury which convenes Monday in Rolling Fork.

If convicted of the feloney charges, Willard would be unable to carry a firearm under state law. Currently, Cartlidge, who was convicted in 1986 when he was chief deputy of taking payoffs from drug dealers, also does not carry a gun.

Cartlidge was able to qualify for the election because his conviction predates a state law prohibiting felons convicted in federal court from running for public office.

If Willard were convicted of receiving stolen property, he would not be barred from holding elective office, according to an attorney general’s opinion issued in 1992.

Voters in Sharkey County District 2 will also decide a runoff between supervisor candidates D.W. Johnson, the incumbent, and Melvin Jones for the Democrat nomination. The winner of that race will face independent candidate Leroy Smith Jr., in the general election.

Sharkey County Coroner Ola Mae Holmes will also face a runoff with John C. Coccaro. The winner of that race will face no opposition in the general election.

Claiborne and Jefferson counties voters will be deciding a runoff election in the District 23 Senate race. That district also includes parts of Hinds and Lincoln counties.

Claiborne County

Incumbent Lynn Posey of Union Church, who is seeking a fifth term, did not receive enough votes in the primary election to take the Democratic nomination. He will face Vincent E. Davis of Fayette.

The winner will advance to the general election and face Republican Charles Stogner of Jackson.

Unofficial returns also show a runoff in the Democratic bid for District 1 supervisor. Incumbent Albert Butler received 369 votes, 26 short of the majority needed to avoid a runoff with Allen Burks. The winner of that nomination will face independent candidate Francois D’Anjou in the general election.

A runoff may also be needed in the race for the Democratic nomination to be Eastern District Constable. Edward Goods took 719 votes in unofficial returns, four short of avoiding a runoff with Ellis Rickey Newal Jr., who received 499.

The winners will face independent candidate Dewayne Thomas in the Nov. 4 general election.

Issaquena County voters will need to cast ballots in a runoff election for District 4 supervisor nominee. Incumbent Elijah Lewis took 74 votes, narrowly beating out Michael Parker’s 71, according to unofficial returns in Democratic voting. The winner faces no further opposition.