The Nov. 6 ballot features a number of statewide races, but Marion County voters will also cast votes in several judicial contests.
They will help elect two new judges in the 10th Chancery District with the retirement of Place 3 Senior Chancellor Johnnie L. Williams and Place 4 Chancellor Ronald M. Doleac.
For Place 3, voters will have the choice between two Hattiesburg attorneys, Bob Marshall and Sheila Havard Smallwood.
The Place 4 race is crowded with Stacey Sims Barber of Hattiesburg, Christopher M. Howdeshell of Hattiesburg, Vanessa Jones of Hattiesburg, Harry R. Lane who practices in Gulfport, Chad Smith of Hattiesburg and Joseph Turney of Columbia on the ballot.
The 10th Chancery District includes Marion, Forrest, Lamar, Pearl River and Perry counties. Both chancery and circuit judges are paid $136,000 per year by state statute.
Chancellors decide cases like divorces, child custodies and lunacies.
In the 15th Judicial Circuit District, incumbent circuit judges Tony Mozingo, Prentiss Harrell and Claiborne “Buddy” McDonald are all unopposed.
On the state Court of Appeals, Chief Judge Joseph Lee is not seeking re-election, and three are vying to take his spot in District 4, Position 2: Byron Carter and David McCarthy, both Jackson attorneys, and Jeff Weill Sr., a Hinds County circuit judge. The district includes Marion County and all or part of 14 other counties.
