HAZLEHURST – Copiah County voters Tuesday chose electioncommission and school board members, while also casting ballots instatewide and nationwide races.

In the race for District 3 election commissioner, Democrat BraddW. Smith beat Republican Joe F. Middleton by a tally of 1,494 votesto 890.

In District 5, Republican Kitty Lingle Jackson edged DemocratBeverly W. Hood 1,395 to 1,034.

Candidates for the other three election commissioner posts -Wilhelmina Jones in District 1, Maudell Ashley Weeks in District 2and Augustus Jones in District 4 – were elected withoutopposition.

In school board races, Helen B. Sandifer in District 1 andWalter B. Bell in District 2 also were elected withoutopposition.

In the race for the U.S. House of Representatives, Copiah Countyvoters in District 2 gave Republican challenger Clinton B. LeSueurthe edge over Democratic incumbent Bennie G. Thompson by a marginof 6,454 to 6.112. Reform Party challenger Shawn O’Hara collected163 votes. Districtwide, however, the incumbent fended off hisyounger opponent.

Copiah Country voters resoundingly favored a proposed amendmentto define marriage as between a man and a woman. Amendment 1received the support of 10,659 voters in the county, compared to1,485 who opposed it, mirroring the statewide trend.

In the race for the Central District Post 1 state Supreme Courtseat, Copiah County voters favored incumbent Justice William L.Waller Jr. over challenger Ray Grindstaff by a margin of 7,865 to3,051 votes. In the Post 2 race, incumbent Justice James Graves leda field of challengers. Graves received 6,207 votes, followed bySamac Richardson with 3,235, William L. Skinner with 2,232 andCeola James with 312.

In the presidential race, Copiah County voted with the state andnation Tuesday, handing President Bush and Vice President DickCheney the majority of the county’s presidential votes.

The Republican ticket received 6,316 votes, trailed byDemocratic Sens. John Kerry and John Edwards with 4,902 votes.Several minor-party candidates received fewer than 20 voteseach.