[3/9/04]Turnout was expected to be light today as voters went to the polls in the presidential and congressional primary elections, Secretary of State Eric Clark said.

“With the presidential nominees of both parties effectively decided and the congressional primaries generating little interest, I expect turnout will be down significantly from past years,” Clark said in a press release.

Polls in Warren County’s 22 precincts opened at 7 this morning and were to remain open until 7 tonight for voting in Democratic and Republican primaries.

Voters must choose between the two party ballots when casting votes.

Republican voters in the congressional district for Warren County and the surrounding area, District 2, will choose their party’s nominee from among three candidates: James Broadwater, 40, of Jackson; Clinton B. LeSueur, 34, of Greenville; and Stephanie Summers-O’Neal, 34, of Jackson.

Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., 56, of Bolton will be the only candidate on his party’s ballot for the U.S. House of Representatives.

Sen. John F. Kerry, D-Massachusetts, has apparently won his party’s nomination for president. Eight candidates’ names, though, will appear on the ballot. The list includes some candidates who have withdrawn from the race since ballots were printed.

And President Bush, seeking re-election, is unopposed on Mississippi primary ballots for the Republican nomination.

Mississippi’s other Democratic congressman, Gene Taylor, and its two Republican congressmen, Roger Wicker and Chip Pickering, are unopposed in their party primaries.

If no candidate in the race for the District 2 Republican nomination wins a majority of the vote in the primary, a runoff election will be held March 30, Clark’s release said.

There is no runoff election among candidates for p0resident. Presidential primary results are used by the parties to select delegates to their national nominating conventions.

The Democratic convention will be in Boston July 26-29, and the Republican convention will be in New York Aug. 30-Sept. 2.