Voters in Marshall and Waskom will go to the polls Saturday to elect municipal and school officials.

Polls will be open from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. at Marshall High School for voters in Marshall and at the Waskom Sub-Courthouse for voters there.

Some voters will cast two ballots, one in their city commission district and one, if eligible, in their school board district.

"Everyone voting in a city race can also vote in a school board race, but not everyone voting in a school board race can necessarily vote in a city race," County Elections Administrator Pam Brock said.

That's because some voters in the school districts reside outside the city limits, she explained.

Ms. Brock said she doesn't expect a heavy turnout of voters on Saturday.

"Usually, about 80 percent of those who vote in May elections will do so during early voting so they don't have to give up their Saturday to vote," she said, adding that the turnout of voters during the seven days of early voting was "exceptionally good."

At the close of early voting Tuesday night, 2,391 citizens had visited the Harrison County Elections Office to cast ballots. All of those were eligible to vote in school board elections; 1,788 also were residents of Marshall proper and eligible to vote in the city commission races.

In addition, Ms. Brock reported that more than 2,000 ballots had been mailed out. While she admitted that "there is not usually a 100 percent return" on mailed ballots, she added that "response so far had been very high." She said those ballots are due by election day.

Marshall Municipal

Seven candidates are seeking three seats on the Marshall City Commission with Districts 5, 6 and 7 being contested this year. Districts 1, 2, 3 and 4 will be elected next year.

John Wilborn is the only incumbent in this year's races, seeking a return to the District 5 seat. He is being challenged by Ken Moon.

In District 6, Chris Paddie and Nina Webster are vying to fill the seat being vacated this year by Mike McMurry while in District 7, Laura Carpenter, Lucian Dulaney and Ed Hoffman are candidates for the seat being vacated by Ed Smith.

Smith currently serves as mayor, a position elected by members of the commission.

Terms of office are two years.

Gloria Moon was the lone candidate filing to fill the unexpired term of the late Katie Jones in District 1. That term will end next year.

Marshall ISD

Five seats on the MISD board of trustees will be decided in this year's elections.

In District 1, incumbent Mrs. Charles W. Wilson is being challenged by Faye Anderson and Allen Clark.

District 2 incumbent Lenora Waldon Reed faces Kurt Gay in the race for that seat.

Helen Warwick, the incumbent in District 3, is challenged by Shirley C. Jones.

Incumbent Walter Floyd and J. Sam Fogle are seeking the District 4 seat.

In District 5, Janie Hill and Wendell Jones are vying for the seat being vacated by Brad Collier.

Waskom

In the only contested municipal election in Waskom, incumbent mayor Jesse W. Moore is being challenged by David Young.

Two seats on the board of aldermen also will be filled, but only incumbents Barbara Reppond and Tommy Lee Philpot Sr. have filed for those seats.

On the school board in Waskom, three at-large seats are up for grabs. Incumbents Brian D. Breeding and Stan Boyd are being challenged by Shanta Brown and Vivian Laverne Fields.

Board member Elizabeth Ratcliff is not seeking re-election.

Contact Steve Bandy: sbandy@coxmnm.com or 903-927-5966.