Voter registration deadline is noon Saturday

Published 11:47 am Friday, April 30, 2010

Registration of new voters in Warren County for the June 1 primary will close at noon Saturday in the Warren County Circuit Clerk’s Office.

The only matter on ballots that day will be the Republican nomination for the 2nd Congressional District seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Three are vying for a place on the Nov. 2 general election ballot — Bill Marcy, Richard Cook and George Bailey. A runoff is set for June 22 if none receive a majority of votes. The winner faces U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., who is unopposed for his party’s nomination.

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All three challengers have limited electoral experience. Cook, 51, a Jackson teacher, lost to Thompson in 2008. Marcy, 64, of Meridian, is a former Chicago police officer who has run for a number of offices, including the 3rd Congressional District in 2008 and a special election for the state House in 2009. Bailey, 62, a minister from Clinton, lost a GOP primary for governor of New Mexico in 2006.

Under state law, residents 18 or older are eligible to enroll and books close 30 days before elections. Mississippi does not register by party, so all voters are eligible to vote in all primaries.

Judicial races in circuit, chancery and county court are nonpartisan and won’t be on ballots until the Nov. 2 general election.

All incumbent judges have qualified for re-election — circuit judges M. James Chaney, Isadore Patrick, Chancellor Vicki Roach Barnes and County/Youth Court Judge Johnny Price. Qualifying in the judicial races ends May 7.

Two slots on the Vicksburg Warren School District Board of Trustees will be decided in November, in District 1 and District 5. Qualifying in those begins Aug. 4 and continues through Sept. 3. The incumbents are Jerry Boland in District 1 and Tommy Shelton in District 5, both in the final year of their six-year terms. School trustee seats are staggered to avoid an all-new board being seated.

The circuit clerk’s office is not normally open on Saturdays, but will be open from 8 a.m. until noon for last-minute registrants.