NATCHEZ &045; The list of candidates running in the Aug. 5 has narrowed down &045; due to changes in justice court and constable lines, among other factors.

Four candidates for justice court judge &045; Audrey Minor Bailey, Cane Callon, Jackie Herrington Panda and Robert Sullivan &045; dropped out of the race.

&uot;At some point, you’re smart enough to know that you don’t want to dilute the voter pool that much,&uot; said Beverly Merrill, secretary of the Adams County Democratic Executive Committee.

This week, the committee sat down to finalize the list of candidates to include on the Aug. 5 primary ballot. &uot;That doesn’t mean that someone else couldn’t withdraw up until the election,&uot; Merrill said. &uot;We just had to finalize the ballot.&uot;

As of the 2000 Census, Adams County’s population dropped below 35,000, and under state law counties of fewer than 35,000 people can only have two justice court judges and two constables. A bill that would have allowed the county to keep three districts &045; Northern, Southern and Southeastern &045; died in a legislative committee earlier this year. But candidates had already qualified to run in the Southeastern District. They will now be listed on the ballot as running in the new Northern or Southern districts, depending on where they live.

Candidates for the offices of justice court judge and constable include:

4Kenneth L. &uot;Bo&uot; Stevens and incumbent Mary Lee Toles, running for Northern District justice court judge.

4Sammy Corley, David Gaude and incumbent Charles Vess, running for Southern District justice court judge.

4Incumbent Ray Brown and George Washington, running for Northern District constable.

4Robert &uot;Dog&uot; Dawson, Randy Freeman, Clarence Hayes Jr., Kevin Nations and incumbent Jason Wisner, running for Southern District constable.

However, incumbent Southeastern District Constable Danny Rollins was not allowed to run for constable.

That is because, since the date he qualified to run, Rollins has moved to a different address. Both the new and old address were located in the old Southeastern District.

However, under the new lines, Rollins would have been in the Southern District &045; but his new address is in the Northern District. Rollins would not comment Friday.

Other candidates who have dropped out of the race include:

4William Johnson, a Democrat who qualified to run for District 1 supervisor.

4Dwight Arnold, a Republican who qualified to run for District 2 supervisor.

4Walter Turner, a Democrat who qualified to run for District 5 supervisor.