- County Supervisors are members of a county-level board called the Board of Supervisors. The board runs the county government, including setting county priorities and funding projects with a multi-million dollar county budget. 
- The board is in charge of county roads, ferries, bridges, law enforcement, collections, fines, and taxes. They also appoint some county-level officials. 
- Decisions made by county supervisors directly impact economic development, public health, safety, and welfare of county citizens. 
- Each county is divided into five supervisor districts of equal population size. Supervisors are elected every four years in partisan elections. Elections take place in odd-numbered years before a presidential election (2023, 2027, 2031, etc.). 

Member of a 5-person board that runs the county

Mississippi

2023 Mississippi General Election

Small Businesses

Public Safety

County Supervisor

- Justice Court Judges hear and decide cases for small claims of $3,500 or less, low-level criminal cases and traffic cases that take place outside of cities. 
- Justice Court Judges have the power to issue search warrants for the police to search a suspect’s property, and they also have the power to decide how much bond should be for high-level criminal cases. 
- Mississippi has 82 Justice Courts with 197 Justice Court Judges. 
- Justice Court Judges are the only Mississippi judges elected in partisan elections. They serve four year terms. 

The decision maker in small claims and traffic cases

Judicial Efficiency

Justice Court Judge

- Each county has an elected constable, who serves court papers in civil court cases and makes arrests throughout the county. 
- Constables are responsible for helping to carry out the laws of the state and keep the peace within the county. They attend the local Justice Court. 
- Sometimes, constables are responsible for collecting money that people owe to the court system. 
- County constables are elected in partisan elections to four year terms. One constable is elected per district, and the districts are the same as the districts for Justice Court Judges. 

Law enforcement of the county court system

Constable

- Chancery Court Clerks receive, file, and maintain court paperwork for the Chancery Court. They also serve as the clerk to the county board of supervisors, including keeping board minutes, issuing checks for the board, and acting as county treasurer and auditor. 
- Chancery Courts are for family law, including adoptions, custody disputes, and divorces, guardianships, sanity hearings, wills, equity, and challenges to the constitutionality of state laws. Court paperwork in all of these types of cases are filed with the clerk’s office, as well as land records. 
- Some Mississippi counties have no county courts. In these counties, everything that is normally heard in a county court is heard by the chancery court. This includes youth court, delinquency, abuse, and neglect. 
- These are 20 chancery court districts, with one elected clerk for each district. 

Official record keeper and administrator of the chancery court

Smith

Public Health

Chancery Court Clerk

- The County Coroner runs the Coroner’s Office, which is responsible for making sure that death investigators are available 24 hours per day to investigate all deaths “affecting the public interest.” 
- Deaths that they are responsible for investigating include deaths causes by accidents, murder, suicide, radiation, heat, electric, chemicals, abortion, disease, sudden infant death syndrome, unexplained deaths, deaths in prison or jail, and deaths where the identity of the dead is unknown. 
- The Coroner is responsible for maintaining copies of all death investigations for five years and coordinating with the State Medical Examiner. 
- There are two types of coroners: chief medical examiners (CMEs) and chief medical investigations (CMEIs). CMEs have a medical or osteopathic degree, while CMEIs are non-physicians who have at least a high school diploma. 
- Coroners are elected to four year terms in partisan elections.

The chief medical examiner or chief medical investigator for the county

County Coroner

- The County Sheriff is an elected official who acts as the chief law enforcement officer in their county. They are tasked with operating the county jails, keeping courtrooms secure during trials, and keeping the public safe through proper law enforcement. 
- Each Sheriff's Office in Mississippi may look a little different in how they hire and run their teams, but they are all responsible for serving civil paperwork, making arrests, and enforcing laws in unincorporated areas of the county. 
- While city police are in charge of law enforcement in their specific cities, county sheriffs are responsible for law enforcement in the areas outside of those cities but within the broader county. 
- There are 82 county sheriffs in Mississippi, one for each individual county. 

The chief law enforcement officer in the county

Policing

County Sheriff

- A county surveyor is an elected official at the county level in Mississippi. They are in charge of land survey records, re-establishing and maintaining government survey monuments, and reviewing property boundaries and subdivision plans. 
- Before anything can be built in the county, the surveyor’s office must survey the land in order to properly assess what can be built where and how it can be constructed. 
- County surveyors are responsible for determining any risks and opportunities on plots of land that have potential for being developed. 
- Land surveying is one of the oldest known professions, and it is still relevant today! 

Housing Costs

Economic Growth

County Surveyor

- The Tax Assessor & Collector is responsible for determining how much people owe in taxes, as well as collecting those taxes. 
- The Tax Assessor & Collector figures out how much each person in the county owes in property taxes on real estate and personal property, and they keep records on changes in ownership in property. 
- The Tax Assessor & Collector sends tax bills, collects payments, and distributes tax payments to the county in order to fund government services. They also handle registration and titling of vehicles. 
- Tax Assessors & Collector are elected every four years in partisan elections. Some Mississippi counties have this one office, while other counties elect separate officials to two distinct offices; Tax Collector and Tax Assessor. 

2023 Mississippi candidates

Sharkey County Supervisor, District 4

1 candidate

How this impacts you

Sharkey Justice Court Judge, District 1

1 candidate

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Sharkey Justice Court Judge, District 2

1 candidate

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Sharkey Constable, District 1

1 candidate

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Sharkey Constable, District 2

1 candidate

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Smith Chancery Court Clerk

1 candidate

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Smith County Coroner

1 candidate

Smith County Sheriff

1 candidate

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Smith County Surveyor

1 candidate

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Smith Tax Assessor & Collector

1 candidate

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