Early voting to start

Early voting for the March 4 Republican and Democratic primaries begins Tuesday and runs through Feb. 29.

Ballots may be cast between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. at the office of the elections administrator, 412 S. Live Oak.

On March 4, voting will be conducted from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the following locations:

Box 1: Clear Creek Baptist Church.

Boxes 2, 3 and 4: First United Methodist Church.

Box 5: Adamsville Community Center.

Box 6: Nix Community Center.

Boxes 7 and 9: Lometa City Hall.

Boxes 8 and 10: Kempner Fire Department Training Center.

Republican and Democratic polling sites are being combined as a cost-saving measure.

A list of candidates, by position, follows.

President: Candidates on the Republican ballot are Duncan Hunter, John McCain, Mitt Romney, Hoa Tran, Mike Huckabee, Ron Paul, Fred Thompson, Alan Keyes, Hugh Cort and Rudy Giuliani.

Democratic candidates listed are Joe Biden, Bill Richardson, Hillary Clinton, Christopher J. Dodd, John Edwards and Barack Obama.

U.S. Senator: The Republican ticket includes Larry Kilgore and the incumbent, John Cornyn.

The winner will face either Richard J. (Rick) Noriega, Rhett R. Smith, Ray McMurrey or Gene Kelly in the fall.

U.S. Representative, District 11: Republican incumbent Mike Conaway is the lone candidate for the seat.

Railroad commissioner: Republican Michael L. Williams, the incumbent, will face the Democratic primary winner from among candidates Dale Henry, Mark Thompson and Art Hall.

Chief Justice, Supreme Court: Wallace B. Jefferson, the incumbent Republican, squares off with Jim Jordan, Democrat.

Justice Supreme Court, Place 7: Incumbent Republican Dale Wainwright will face the winner of the Democrat primary, either Sam Houston or Baltasar D. Cruz.

Justice, Supreme Court, Place 8: Phil Johnson is the Republican incumbent. Democrats can cast a vote for Susan Criss or Linda Reyna Yanez.

Judge, Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 3: Tom Price, the Republican incumbent, is challenged by Democratic candidate Susan Strawn.

Judge, Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 4: Robert Francis and incumbent Paul Womack will appear on the Republican ballot. Democrat J.R. Molina is listed as the lone challenger.

Judge, Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 9: Republican Cathy Cochran faces no challengers for her seat.

Member, State Board of Education, District 14: Incumbent Republican Gail Lowe is on the GOP ballot. The Democrat candidate is Edra Bogle.

Chief Justice, 3rd Court of Appeals District: Ken Law is the Republican incumbent. He will square off with Democrat Woodie Jones in the fall.

State Senator District 24: Troy Fraser, the Republican incumbent, is the lone candidate on the ballot.

State Representative, District 54: Republican Jimmie Don Aycock is unchallenged in the primary.

District Judge, 27th Judicial District: Joe Carroll is the Republican incumbent. He faces no opposition.

County Attorney: Larry W. Allision, on the Republican ticket, is unchallenged for his seat.

Sheriff: David S. Whitis and Joe Lorette are the Republicans running for the post.

Tax Assessor-Collector: Linda C. Crawford, the Republican incumbent, is unchallenged.

County Commissioner, Precinct 1: Republican Robert L. Vincent Jr., is unopposed in his reelection bid.

County Commissioner,

Precinct 3: Lowell B. Ivey, the Republican incumbent, is unchallenged for the seat.

Constable, Precinct 1: Gordon Nelson, the incumbent Republican, faces no opposition.

Constable, Precinct No. 2 and 3: Republican Camron Brister faces no challengers for the position.

Constable, Precinct No. 4: Democrat Hiram Jones, who died after the filing deadline, has no ballot opposition.

County Chairman: B.R. "Skipper" Wallace is on the ballot for Republican chairman, and Daniel Melder is the county Democratic candidate.

Also on the Republican ballot are three initiatives which voters can mark either Yes or No.

Ballot Initiative 1, Immigration: Federal, state and local officials should be required to enforce U.S. immigration laws in order to secure our borders.

Ballot Initiative 2, Photo ID: The Texas Legislature should make it a priority to protect the integrity of our election process by enacting legislation that requires voters to provide valid photo identification in order to cast a ballot in any and all elections conducted in the state of Texas.

Ballot initiative 3, Controlling Government Growth: Every governmental body in Texas should be required to limit any annual increase in its budget and spending to the combined increase of population and inflation unless it first gets voter approval to exceed the allowed annual growth or in the case of an official state of emergency.