The Webster Progress-Times

Only a few hundred people turned out in Webster County to vote in the June 6 Democratic primary election to select nominees for the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.

Circuit Clerk Deborah Hood Neal said 337 people voted here in the primary. The number of votes cast per precinct ranged from three in Walthall at the Courthouse to 54 in Eupora No. 1 at the Community Center.

A runoff election in both races will be June 27. No Republican primary election was conducted because no more than one candidate qualified for each office.

In the 1st Congressional District, the House runoff will be between Columbus attorney William Bambach and political consultant Ken Horn of Verona.

Bambach garnered 117 votes in Webster County, with Hurt second at 105. Joe Forsythe Jr. of Horn Lake had 46 votes and Ron Shapiro of Oxford had 39 countywide.

The runoff winner will face Republican incumbent Roger Wicker in November.

The statewide Democratic runoff in the U.S. Senate race will be between business consultant Bill Bowlin of Hickory Flat and state Rep. Erik Fleming of Clinton.

Bowlin led in Webster County with 187 votes, followed by Fleming with 64, Catherine M. Starr of Hattiesburg with 53 and James O'Keefe of Long Beach with 28.

Maben precinct electors voted in the Senate race only and will do the same in the runoff since it is in the 3rd Congressional District, where Republican incumbent Chip Pickering was unopposed in the primaries.

The circuit clerk's office will be open the next two Saturdays from 8 a.m. to noon for primary runoff absentee voting.

Last week's election marked the first time that the county's new touchscreen voting machines were used.

"All in all it went well," Neal said in reporting no major problems. "Our pollworkers did a wonderful job."