Two more in races for re-election to election commission

Published 12:12 pm Thursday, May 24, 2012

Two more incumbents on the Warren County Election Commission have filed re-election petitions.

District 2 Commissioner Retha Summers and District 5 Commissioner Lonnie Wooley filed papers with the Chancery Clerk’s Office Tuesday. Both were approved Wednesday.

Summers, 65, and Wooley, 72, first won their spots in special elections — Summers in 1994, Wooley in 2009.

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The commission enrolls voters, assigns polling places, certifies non-party candidates, conducts all general and special elections and certifies results to the Secretary of State’s Office.

They join District 4 incumbent John Rundell and Sara Carlson Dionne as qualified candidates in the five districts. Dionne, 56, is challenging Rundell.

Seats on the commission come up for re-election during presidential election cycles. Qualifying ends June 4.

The commission’s other incumbents are Petesy Smith in District 1 and Elva Smith in District 3.

The election commission seats accompany three other district-level races that appear on the Nov. 6 general ballot. Others include the District 2 seat on the Vicksburg Warren School District Board of Trustees, held now by Zelmarine Murphy, and a position on the state Court of Appeals. For school board, the period begins Aug. 8 and ends Sept. 7.

Incumbent appellate judge Ermea J. Russell has drawn one challenger, Vicksburg attorney Ceola James. The judgeship covers appellate District 2, Place 2. Qualifying ended May 11.

In south Mississippi, Vicksburg native Talmadge Braddock, the son of the late Gerald Braddock, is challenging Justice Mike K. Randolph. The seat covers Supreme Court District 2, Place 3. The elder Braddock, a longtime Vicksburg attorney, served three years in the early 1990s as a chancellor in the 9th Chancery District.