Oktibbeha County Court Judge
No Oktibbeha County candidate for the new county court judge race received a majority of the vote needed to be elected in this 3-way race on November 8, 2022. The two top vote recipients, Charles Bruce Brown and Lee Ann Self Turner, are now facing each other in a runoff election on November 29, 2022. Polls will open at 7:00 a.m. and close at 7:00 p.m. This was a nonpartisan election and the runoff is nonpartisan as well. County Court judges serve 4-year terms.
Brown and Turner are competing to become the first county court judge in Oktibbeha County. County Courts were created by the Legislature to reduce the workload of Circuit and Chancery Courts. This new court was established because Oktibbeha County had achieved a population of 50,000 in the 2020 Census.
County Court Functions
County Courts have exclusive jurisdiction over eminent domain proceedings and juvenile matters, among other things. In counties which have a County Court, a County Court judge also serves as the Youth Court judge. County Courts share jurisdiction with Circuit and Chancery Courts in some civil matters. The jurisdictional limit of County Courts is up to $200,000. County Courts may handle non-capital felony cases transferred from Circuit Court. County Court judges may issue search warrants, set bond and preside over preliminary hearings. County Courts have concurrent jurisdiction with Justice Courts in all matters, civil and criminal. (source)
Candidate Details
(Listed alphabetically)
According to The Dispatch (source), the unofficial vote tally (including affidavits counted) was as follows:
| Candidate | Votes Received | % of Total |
| Charles Bruce Brown | 2,925 | 28.6% |
| Marty Haug | 2,711 | 26.5% |
| Lee Ann Self Turner | 4,572 | 44.7% |
Charles Bruce Brown
Lee Ann Turner
Other Sources
- Starkville Attorney Lee Ann Turner running for newly created County Court – WCBI [24-Jan-2022]
- Brown, Haug and Turner qualify for county court judge – The Dispatch [28-Jan-2022]
- Turner, Brown secure spots in county court judge runoff – The Dispatch [10-Nov-2022]
- Starting back at zero: Candidates in judicial runoffs try to get voters back to polls – The Dispatch [20-Nov-2022]
Candidate Questionnaire
To help Oktibbeha County voters learn more about Brown and Turner, attempts are being made to send both candidates identical questionnaires from Mississippi Voter Guide. Their answers, when submitted to us, will be posted below.
The 11 questions asked are as follows:
- What are the major influence(s) in your life?
- Who have been your most helpful mentors and what did you learn from them?
- How would you prepare yourself to handle a case involving a subject or area of the law you are not familiar with?
- What types of non-academic things (jobs, interests, volunteer activities, etc.) did you pursue during college / law school?
- What do you consider the greatest obstacle(s) to achieving justice (if any)?
- How do you describe your general judicial philosophy?
- What do you believe to be the primary cause(s) of the high number of juvenile offenders?
- Who are your judicial role models and why do you value them?
- Why should voters support you instead of your opponent?
- What is your highest hope for the justice system in the district you are seeking to fill?
- Is there anything else you would like voters to know?
Updates
- 20-Nov-2022 – Added link under “Other Sources” section.
- 28-Nov-2022 – Neither candidate returned the questionnaire.
- 30-Nov-2022 – Update with election results (shown below).
Election Results
The Runoff Election is past and Lee Ann Turner was the was elected the first Oktibbeha County Court Judge. The Dispatch reported the following vote count (source):
| Candidate | Votes Received | % of Total |
| Charles Bruce Brown | 1,496 | 33.9% |
| Lee Ann Self Turner | 2,900 | 65.7% |