JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - Republican Gov. Haley Barbour agreed Thursday to move a special election for Trent Lott's old Senate seat to near the top of the November ballot, ending a dispute that had threatened to delay the start of absentee voting.
Barbour's decision came after the state Supreme Court ruled that putting the election near the bottom of the ballot was against the law, but stopped short of ordering him to move it.
Opponents had accused Barbour, a former Republican National Committee chairman, of attempting to bury the race to try to confuse voters and hurt the chances of the Democratic candidate, former Gov. Ronnie Musgrove.
Musgrove and Republican Roger Wicker are competing to serve the final four years of a six-year term started by Lott, who retired last December to become a lobbyist. Barbour, who unseated Musgrove in 2003, appointed Wicker to temporarily fill Lott's seat until the special election. One of the governor's nephews is managing Wicker's campaign.
Republicans want to keep the seat that's been theirs since Lott first won it in 1988. Democrats hope Musgrove will get a boost in heavily Republican Mississippi if there's significant turnout for presidential nominee Barack Obama.
But people tend to leave less-publicized races blank as they work their way down the ballot, which had some Democrats worried that voters would ignore the special Senate election if it were near the end.
A majority of Supreme Court justices ruled Thursday that a 2000 state law requires all federal races to be near the top of the ballot. But they stopped short of ordering Barbour to elevate the Wicker-Musgrove race.
Justice Oliver Diaz wrote a sharp dissent, saying the majority's ruling was "little more than a dressed-up request" for the governor to comply with the law.
Barbour issued a brief statement in response: "The Supreme Court has spoken; so be it."
His spokesman, Pete Smith, elaborated: "The governor is going to comply with the ruling and the Senate race will go near the top."
It is unclear how soon a new sample ballot will be sent to election officials. Ballots must be available Monday so people can start absentee voting. Overseas voters can get paper ballots starting Oct. 4.
The Supreme Court ruling was based on a lawsuit from a Democratic election commissioner who said voters could become confused if the special election were separated from the other federal races, including the regular election for the state's other Senate seat. |