National Briefing - South - Mississippi - Rearranging the Ballot - NYTimes.com Gov. Haley Barbour agreed to move a special election for Trent Lott's former Senate seat to near the top of the November ballot, ending a dispute that had threatened to delay the start of absentee voting. Mr. Barbour's decision came after the state Supreme Court ruled that putting the election near the bottom of the ballot was against the law, but stopped short of ordering him to move it. Opponents had accused Mr. Barbour, a former Republican National Committee chairman, of trying to bury the race to try to confuse voters and hurt the chances of the Democratic candidate, former Gov. Ronnie Musgrove. Mr. Musgrove and the Republican candidate, Roger Wicker, are competing to serve the final four years of a six-year term started by Mr. Lott, who retired last December. Mr. Barbour, who unseated Mr. Musgrove in 2003, appointed Mr. Wicker to fill Mr. Lott's seat until the special election. People tend to leave less-publicized races blank as they work their way down the ballot, which had some Democrats worried that voters would ignore the special Senate election if it were near the end.