The senior assistant district attorney has filed as a challenger to the senior circuit judge in one of two contested Warren County judicial elections set for November.

Assistant District Attorney John Bullard will be on the ballot opposing incumbent Judge Frank Vollor.

The state’s 9th Judicial District includes Warren, Sharkey and Issaquena counties. Judicial races are nonpartisan.

Both candidates have filed papers this week with the Mississippi Secretary of State’s Office, spokesman David Blount said. The deadline for candidates to file is May 5.

&#8220I thought a long time about this,” Bullard said when asked about his decision to run. &#8220I’m not pursuing this out of personal ambition. I see a real need to change the character of our circuit court. It needs to be done. It’s time.”

Vollor, who won his post in a contested election in 1989, has also faced opposition once since. He also sought a seat on the state Supreme Court.

&#8220I’ve been serving the people for 17 years and I’d like to serve them for at least another term,” Vollor said. &#8220I’ve tried hard to serve the people and I think my record will sustain that. But it’s up to the people to decide.”

Vollor also commented on a new program that has been started under his leadership and with the cooperation of the district’s other judge, Isadore Patrick. That program, called drug court, provides intensive supervision for criminals who plead guilty to certain offenses deemed to be rooted in addiction to drugs or alcohol.

&#8220We started this drug court and I’d like to see it carry through and be successful,” Vollor said. &#8220I think it’ll be a tremendous benefit to the community when we get it fully off the ground.”

Bullard is the son of the late Chancellor Nat Bullard and Elizabeth W. Bullard of Vicksburg. He has practiced law in Vicksburg for the past 22 years and has been an assistant district attorney since 1991. He is an elected member of the board of commissioners of the Mississippi State Bar Association and has served as secretary-treasurer of the Warren County Bar Association. He is married to Nancy Nelson Bullard, who owns Sassafras, a downtown Vicksburg gift shop.

Vollor has practiced law or served as a circuit judge in Vicksburg for 30 years. Before being elected judge he was county prosecuting attorney for 5 1/2 years. He served three years’ active duty and 10 years in the reserves with the U.S. Marine Corps and is an honorary retired major. He also served one year as a clerk for the Mississippi Supreme Court. He is a former member of the complaint tribunal of the Mississippi State Bar and is a member of the Port City Kiwanis Club and is a member or advisory-board member of other community organizations. He is married to Teri Vollor, an eighth-grade teacher for the Vicksburg Warren School District. They have five children and are members of St. Michael Catholic Church.

The 9th Circuit Court District is divided into two subdistricts. The one from which the two candidates are seeking election is composed of some of Warren County’s 22 voting precincts.

The other contested race for a judgeship for Warren County is also for a district or subdistrict that also includes Sharkey and Issaquena counties.

Judge Vicki Roach Barnes is the judge for the three-county territory of the chancery-court district that also includes Washington, Humphreys and Sunflower counties, the 9th Chancery Court District. She has filed for re-election and is being challenged by Vicksburg attorney Ceola James.

&#8220I feel that my experience as a chancery judge exemplifies the fact that I’ve always been fair and impartial,” Barnes said, adding that she would work to continue that record.

James is a former special master of Warren County Chancery Court and has served as an interim judge in Justice Court. She has sought election to several judgeships, including the state Supreme Court.

Barnes is completing her third term as chancellor for the district and that she served nine years as a judge in Vicksburg Municipal Court.

The 9th Circuit Court District’s other judgeship is elected from the other Warren County precincts and Sharkey and Issaquena counties. Patrick has also filed for re-election and is the sole candidate for the job so far.

&#8220I’ve enjoyed the office and I’ve been humbled by the support of the citizens of Warren County through the years,” Patrick said. &#8220I appreciate their support and I hope that they would see fit to show faith in me in electing me for another term.”

Neither Vollor nor Patrick was opposed in the most recent elections for the posts, in 2002.

Also in this year’s general election one other county judgeship is up for election, that of Warren County Court and Youth Court. No filing for candidacy had been made as of Wednesday. The post has been held by Johnny Price since 2003.

And a school-board election is set for November for the seat from the county’s northwestern district, District 2. The filing period for candidacy for the post is from Aug. 9 until Sept. 8. The post is held by Zelmarine Murphy.

Elections are also set this year for levee district commissioners for Sharkey and Issaquena counties. The qualifying deadline for candidates in those elections is May 6.

The other elections set for this year are for U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives.

A Democratic primary election for representative for the district that includes Warren and surrounding counties, the 2nd District, is set for June 6. In that primary, Rep. Bennie G. Thompson of Bolton is being challenged by Dorothy &#8220Dot” Benford of Jackson and state Rep. Chuck Espy of Clarksdale.

The Republican candidate in the race is Yvonne R. Brown, the mayor of Tchula. Her name and that of the Democratic nominee are to appear on general-election ballots.

Voters in the Democratic primary here will also see on ballots four Democratic candidates for Senate, Bill Bowlin of Hickory Flat, state Rep. Erik Fleming of Clinton, James O’Keefe of Long Beach and Catherine Starr of Hattiesburg.

The winner of that primary will meet in the general election Sen. Trent Lott, a Republican, and the Libertarian Party’s candidate for the seat, Harold Taylor of Nesbit.

The qualifying deadline for the federal elections was March 1.

Any eligible Mississippi voter may choose to vote in a party’s primary. A federal lawsuit has been filed on behalf of the Democratic Party, however, seeking to change that system.

Absentee voting for the June 6 primaries begins April 22.

Any primary runoff that may become necessary would be scheduled for June 27.

The elections will be the first for Warren and surrounding county voters with new, touch-screen voting machines. A machine in the Warren County Circuit Clerk’s Office is available for the public to use as advance practice with a mock ballot.