Voters may be tiring of the ongoing election counting andrecounting in Florida, but locally we have one more election inSouthwest Mississippi next week.

On Tuesday, runoffs will decide a few slots in surroundingcounties, but the one garnering the most interest is the StateSupreme Court race between Lincoln County Circuit Court Judge KeithStarrett and Justice Oliver Diaz of the Gulf Coast.

Despite the frustration of voters over the presidentialelection, Tuesday’s runoff is a very important day. At question isa Supreme Court seat vital in the day-to-day lives of everyMississippian.

Diaz is supported by the heavy contributions of the MississippiTrial Lawyers while Starrett has the support of the businesscommunity. In the general election, Starrett carried Lincoln Countywith 8,824 votes to Diaz’s 2,541 and Billy Joe Landrum’s 1,842.Although the appointed incumbent Diaz carried the southern districtwith his strong Gulf Coast base, the margin was not enough to avoida runoff.

To area voters who overwhelmingly supported Starrett, we cannotexpress enough the importance of voting on Tuesday.