JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A circuit judge on Friday ordered Mississippi’s governor to move a special election for Trent Lott’s old U.S. Senate off the bottom of the Nov. 4 ballot.

Attorneys for Republican Gov. Haley Barbour said they will file a quick appeal to the Mississippi Supreme Court.

Hinds County Circuit Judge Tomie Green said in the ruling that “the principles of fairness and justice” demand that the special election be listed among the other federal races.

She ordered the secretary of state’s office to distribute a revised sample ballot to local election officials.

Republican Roger Wicker and Democrat Ronnie Musgrove are competing to serve the final four years of Lott’s six-year term. Lott, a Republican, resigned last December and Barbour appointed Wicker to serve until the special election.

Democratic county election Commissioner Trudy Berger sued to have the ballot changed. She said voters might not be able to find the Senate race if it’s buried beneath a half-dozen contests for school board, local election commissioners and levee boards.

Local election officials, meanwhile, are faced with conflicting instructions about what to do as they prepare for the election.

The secretary of state’s office distributed the Barbour-approved sample ballot to the 82 counties late Wednesday. The disputed ballot has the Wicker-Musgrove race near the bottom.

Attorney General Jim Hood, a Democrat, said Thursday that he has advised election commissioners to put the special Senate election near the top, just below a regular election for the state’s other U.S. Senate seat.

The attorney general’s office said a 2000 state law dictates the order of races on ballots — national, statewide, state district, legislative, countywide, county district.

Ballots have not been printed yet. Absentee voters would get paper ballots, but at least 80 of the 82 counties use electronic voting machines.

Democrats are hoping Musgrove will get a boost if there’s a significant turnout for the party’s presidential nominee, Barack Obama. But people tend to leave less-publicized races blank as they move down the ballot, which has some Democrats worried that voters will ignore the special Senate election.

Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann, a Republican, said the machines used in 79 counties will tell a voter three times if any race has been left blank on an electronic ballot.

Green is elected without partisan label, but she used to serve as a Democrat in the state House. Barbour is expected to have a friendlier venue in the conservative state Supreme Court.

Barbour defeated Musgrove in the 2003 governor’s race.

Lott, now a lobbyist, spent 19 years in the Senate and worked his way up to the Republicans’ top ranks. He lost his leadership post after praising 100-year-old Sen. Strom Thurmond in late 2002 with remarks many interpreted as racist.