Voters were reported to be few and far between when polls opened in Vicksburg and Warren County for today’s Republican primary for Mississippi’s 2nd Congressional District seat.

The timing of primary day in the state — falling the day after Memorial Day — and virtually no advertising by the three men vying to run against U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., was a common theme from poll managers this morning.

Culkin precinct, the county’s largest and reliably Republican, had just 12 voters in the first 45 minutes, poll manager Bill Collins said.

“There hasn’t been a whole lot of interest,” Collins said. “Also, Bennie’s had a lock on this for so long.”

Thompson, 62 and in office 17 years, is unopposed in the Democratic primary and is assured a place in the Nov. 2 general election for a ninth full term. He chairs the House Homeland Security Committee.

The three Republicans on today’s ballot — George Bailey, Richard Cook and Bill Marcy — have run low-budget to no-budget campaigns. A runoff election will be June 22 if no candidate receives a majority of votes.

Poll workers had ample time to finish off their breakfasts at Carpenters Union Hall and at the Elks Lodge precinct, usually places where early-bird voters come out for every election. None had showed up by about 7:45 a.m. at either U.S. 61 South precinct.

“It just wasn’t publicized enough,” Kathy Osborn said, waiting for the day’s first voters at the hall, home of the Jett precinct.

“Usually, there’s a few people who come early before they do anything else,” Elks manager Carolyn Dedmond said, also awaiting the first ballot.

The three primary candidates have run for office previously. Cook, 51, a Jackson middle school teacher, lost to Thompson in the 2008 general election. Marcy, 64, a Meridian resident and former Chicago police officer, ran unsuccessfully the past two years for state House and Senate seats and for mayor in his east Mississippi hometown. Bailey, 65, a Texas-born minister who lives in Clinton, ran for the GOP nod for governor in New Mexico in 2006.

The district covers all or part of 23 counties, from Tunica to Jefferson along the Mississippi River. It also includes most of Jackson and stretches to Attala County on its eastern boundary.

Registered voters in Warren County total 30,306 heading into today’s primary, a drop of 18 percent since 2008. Statewide registration stood at just more than 1.8 million, a 5 percent drop since the most recent presidential election cycle.

Circuit Court judges M. James Chaney and Isadore Patrick and Chancellor Vicki Roach Barnes drew no opposition and are uncontested for election in November.

Warren County voters will have one contested judicial race on the November ballot, State Court of Appeals District 2. Incumbent Judge Tyree Irving faces Vicksburg attorney Ceola James.

Voters are also casting primary ballots in Mississippi’s three other congressional districts today. Most closely watched is District 1 where three Republicans are vying to face one-term incumbent Democrat Travis Childers and several independent and minor party candidates in November.