Early voter turnout across Mississippi on Tuesday was reported from light to moderate, with special interest issues in some areas adding spice to what otherwise were low-key campaigns against the state’s congressional incumbents.

“Jackson schools need to be upgraded,” said engineer Derrick Cannon, 30, in crediting a $150 million school bond issue for getting him out to the polls early.

Cannon said he also came out to support the re-election bid of U.S. Rep Bennie Thompson, D-Miss.

Secretary of State Eric Clark had predicted Monday that about a third of the state’s two million registered voters would cast ballots, in line with past midterm congressional elections.

“The races in Mississippi aren’t expected to be that close,” Clark said. “The attention focused on the competitiveness of this year’s national election makes our voters aware that we’ve got an election and will encourage turnout.”

The polls opened at 7 a.m. and were to close at 7 p.m. across the state. Most voters were using new Diebold-manufactured voting machines, which provide a paper trail in case an election is contested.

Ballots were being cast in congressional, judicial and special legislative races.

Clark said heavy advertising in the judicial campaigns was driving much of the turnout, along with the local issues on some ballots.

Katie Blount, as was the case with Cannon, was interested in the Jackson bond issue.

Blount said she was a regular voter but funding for Jackson’s education system was especially important to her because she has children attending the schools

In Hurricane Katrina ravaged Hancock County on Gulf Coast, county election commission chairman Gary Gilmore said his spot check of early turnout found it to be slow in the Diamonhead area but strong up in the county.

Gilmore said in the last general election he had seen early voting lines four times longer than what he was seeing Tuesday in Diamonhead. He said problems related to the hurricane accounted for some of the slow pace.

In Leflore County, where special legislative elections have attracted some interest, election commissioner Deveda Dillion said turnout had not been heavy in her district, in part due to the foggy weather conditions.

James Brewer, an election commissioner in Warren County said a midmorning check Tuesday found average to strong voter interest.

“I talked to the manager in our largest precinct and she said they were having a real strong turnout,” Brewer said.

Election commissioner Paul Beale said turnout was encouraging in DeSoto County in the extreme northwestern end of the state.

“We’ve got a county judge who retired after being a judge for 16 years and that open seat is creating a lot of interest,” Beale said.

In Leflore County, where special legislative elections have attracted some interest, election commissioner Deveda Dillion said turnout had not been heavy in her district, in part due to the foggy weather conditions.

“I think a lot of people went on to work and will come vote later or after work,” she said.

Major issues on Tuesday’s ballots included:

— The U.S. Senate seat that Sen. Trent Lott first won in 1988. He’s seeking another six-year term.

— All four U.S. House seats. Republicans Roger Wicker and Chip Pickering and Democrats Thompson and Gene Taylor are seeking new two-year terms.

— All four U.S. House seats. Republicans Roger Wicker and Chip Pickering, and Democrats Bennie Thompson and Gene Taylor are seeking new two-year terms.

— A five-person race for an open state Court of Appeals seat in southwest and central Mississippi. The winner gets an eight-year term.

— Four state Court of Appeals seats in which the incumbents are unchallenged, also for eight-year terms.

— Circuit and chancery court judgeships across the state. Winners serve four-year terms.

— Four special state legislative elections — two in the Delta and two in south Mississippi. The winners will serve the rest of this four-year term, which ends in January 2008.

Clark said this year has been particularly challenging as the state worked to comply with requirements of the federal Help America Vote Act.

The law, enacted after the chaotic 2000 presidential election, required states to purchase voting machines that meet federal standards and to make voting more accessible for the disabled and members of the military serving overseas.

Mississippi purchased the Diebold machines for 77 of the state’s 82 counties. The machines provide a voter verifiable paper audit trail, which is retained in the machine so it can be compared to the electronic tally.

Clark said he’s aware of concerns being raised nationally about the possibility that the electronic machines could be hacked, allowing elections to be manipulated.

“The question that people are asking about electronic voting machines across most of the U.S. is ’Do they have a paper trail? That’s the insurance policy that everybody wants,” Clark said. “Across most of the country, the answer is ’no.’ In Mississippi, the answer is absolutely ’yes.”’

Five counties — Hinds, Rankin, Yaloubusha, Lee and DeSoto — will use different machines for Tuesday’s election, but they still meet the federal standards.

On Monday, U.S. Attorney Dunn Lampton announced that his assistant attorney, Don Burkhalter, will help oversee complaints as part of the Justice Department’s Election Day Program.