[9/8/04]The filing deadline for candidates for Warren County Election Commission seats has passed with no one seeking one spot and two first-time candidates seeking another.

No one filed qualifying papers to run in District 4, which is being represented by interim appointee Bill Lauderdale.

Two candidates, Patricia Reed, 25, and Lurline Green, 57, filed for election to the District 3 seat, which is held by LaShondra Stewart.

The terms of all five commissioners expire at the end of this year. The incumbents from the other three districts, Johnny Brewer of District 1, Retha Summers of District 2 and Gordon Carr of District 5, are running unopposed for re-election.

The District 4 seat was vacated after James McMullin died on Jan. 29. He had been elected to three terms beginning in 1992 and was serving as the commission’s chairman. Supervisors appointed Lauderdale, a former county supervisor from District 4, to serve the remainder of the term.

The county’s board of supervisors, meeting Tuesday, voted to instruct board attorney Randy Sherard to consult the Secretary of State’s Office on how to proceed, and Sherard said he would do that.

Lauderdale now works full-time at the state Tax Commission in Jackson, and handling the election-commission work in addition to a full-time job is not easy, he said. When asked if he would continue in the post if asked, though, he said he would.

“I’d be glad to if they needed me to,” Lauderdale said.

Stewart has continued to hold the District 3 seat while documents she submitted to get paid have been under an investigation that started a year ago.

Green, a former licensed practical nurse at Heritage House Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, 3101 Wisconsin Ave., said she is a two-term Vicksburg municipal election commissioner and has also served as chairman of that commission. She has managed the American Legion voting precinct for about 10 years, prior to which time she served as a poll watcher and a poll worker, she added.

Reed works as a hair stylist at Clay’s Hair Styling Salon, 2901 Washington St., and is also making her first run for public office, she said.

The commission is responsible for maintaining county voter rolls throughout the year, conducting elections and certifying election results. Election commissioners are paid per-day for up to 100 days per year unless there are multiple elections in a year.