Lincoln County’s general election ballot is set and officialsexpect interest in various races to be picking up soon.

Following recent qualifying deadlines for election commissionerand two county school board posts, election commissioners havefinalized the ballot for November and sent it off for printing,said Lincoln County Circuit Clerk Terry Lynn Case. Absentee ballotsare expected to be ready by the first day of voting next week.

“People can start voting absentee Thursday, Sept. 21,” Casesaid.

In addition to normal weekday in-office absentee voting, Casesaid her office will be open Saturdays Oct. 28 and Nov. 4 untilnoon for that purpose. Nov. 4 is the last day to vote absentee inthe Nov. 7 general election in which county voters will help decideraces for president, U.S. senator, U.S. representative, statesupreme court, five election commissioners and two school boardposts for Enterprise and Loyd Star.

In another election matter, Case said Saturday, Oct. 7, is thelast day for people to register to be eligible to vote in thegeneral election.

“We will be open that Saturday until noon for voterregistration,” Case said.

One election-related decision made this week involved theeligibility of Bryan Kyzar to seek the District 1-Enterprise schoolboard post. Case said commissioners received some calls that Kyzar,a 1996 graduate of Enterprise, lived in the West Lincoln Schooldistrict and not at the Ruth address he listed on his qualifyingpapers.

“The commissioners did determine he lived in the Enterprisedistrict and he’d be allowed to run,” Case said.

Kyzar will oppose incumbent Jerry Coon.

In the other school board race, Johnny L. Hart faces Jo BethThompson for the right to represent Loyd Star on the school board.Incumbent Randall Lofton is not seeking re-election.

In election commissioner posts, Robert O. Martin has qualifiedagainst incumbent Lee Warren in the District 5 electioncommissioner race.

“The other four commissioners are unopposed,” Case said,referring to District 1’s John Hightower, District 2’s Mike Byrne,District 3’s Bernard McClelland and Charles Smith of District4.

For election night, officials will be able to use a newvote-scanning machine, Case said. The previous machine was old, andofficials could no longer get the necessary software needed tooperate it.

“We’re excited about that,” Case said of the new machine.

With qualifying deadlines past, Case was hopeful interest inthis year’s election will pick up.

“We haven’t really heard a lot about the election,” she said.”It’s been rather quiet.”

One item that could help boost interest are the school boardraces and two area officials’ involvement in some races on theballot. District Attorney Dunn Lampton is going against Rep. RonnieShows for the Fourth District U.S. Representative seat, and CircuitJudge Keith Starrett is involved in a three-man race for a seat onthe state supreme court.

“That’s going to spark local interest,” Case said.

In addition to Lampton, the Republican, and Shows, the incumbentDemocrat, Ernie John Hopkins of the Libertarian Party and BettyPharr of the Reform Party are on the U.S. representativeballot.

Starrett is facing incumbent Oliver Diaz and Billy Joe Landrumfor the state supreme court seat. Diaz was appointed followingformer justice Michael Sullivan’s death.

In the race for U.S. Senate, incumbent Republican Trent Lott,the chamber’s majority leader, faces Troy D. Brown, the Democrat.Also on the ballot are Lewis Naper of the Libertarian Party, ShawnO’Hara of the Reform Party and Jim Giles, an independent.

But the big draw for the November election will be thepresidential race. Eight teams of presidential andvice-presidential candidates are to appear on the ballot.

The presidential candidates and their running mates include:

* Democratic Party – Al Gore and Joe Lieberman

* Republican Party – George W. Bush and Dick Cheney

* Constitution Party – Howard Phillips and J. Curt Frazier

* Libertarian Party – Harry Browne and Art Olivier

* Natural Law Party – John Hagelin and Nat Goldhaber

* Reform Party – Pat Buchanan and Ezola Foster

* Independent – James Harris and Margaret Trowe

* Independent – Ralph Nader and Winona LaDuke.

“The presidential race always attracts a lot of people,” Casesaid. “We’re expecting a good turnout.”