Richmond County Sheriff candidates, election leaders address potential runoff
AUGUSTA, Ga. (WJBF) – The Richmond County Sheriff race is likely headed to a runoff election.
To win the primary election, a candidate needs to have 50% plus one of the votes.
The top two vote-getters were incumbent Sheriff Richard Roundtree currently with 49% of the votes and Eugene “Gino Rock” Brantley with almost 28%.
While some provisional ballots are still being accepted, board of elections leaders said the race is likely going to be a runoff. But, not everyone gets to vote.
“Because the sheriff’s race was a Democratic candidate, only those people who voted in the Democratic primary are able to vote in the runoff,” said Asst. Board of Elections Director Travis Doss. “However, if you did not vote at all, you can also vote in the runoff.”
To break it down, if you voted on a Republican ballot in Tuesday’s primary election, you cannot vote in the Sheriff runoff because both candidates are running as Democrats.
“But, the big thing for people to remember there is if you did not vote at all, you can still vote in the runoff,” Doss said.
He said there will probably be a runoff in the nonpartisan Superior Court Judge race as well.
“So, if you voted Republican, you’ll have an opportunity to vote in the nonpartisan superior court judge race. If you voted Democrat, then you’ll have the sheriff and the superior court judge race. If you voted nonpartisan, you can choose to vote Democrat or nonpartisan,” Doss said.
If elected, this would be incumbent Sheriff Richard Roundtree’s 4th term. He anticipated the runoff with the number of candidates in the race.
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“Also, we factor in the fact that we had individuals, who really don’t subscribe to Democratic philosophy, are gonna vote in a Democratic primary, too, for their own agenda. So, we anticipated that also,” he said. “It was not something we did not account for, and we’re ready for a runoff.”
He tells us his strength is his experience, and wants to continue to upgrade the Sheriff’s Office and expand its presence for another term.
“The opponents against me always talk about it’s time for a change. I told them, my philosophy for the last twelve years. We’ve been changing and evolving for the last twelve years. We won state and national accreditation, [etc.]” Sheriff Roundtree said. “I wouldn’t put myself out here if I didn’t want to continue to serve the citizens of Richmond County for another four years. So, I’m always going to ask for their vote, and I’m always going ask for their support. I’ve gotten it the last twelve years, and I hope to get it the next four.”
His opponent, Eugene “Gino Rock” Brantley, said the votes show that people want change.
“So, that was very, very encouraging. If not, we wouldn’t be in a runoff situation this morning. So, we just gotta encourage those who want change to come back out to the polls and vote for change. And for those who didn’t, go to the polls and vote,” he said.
If elected, Brantley said he will be accessible to everyone and actively engaged in the community.
“By having programs designed to cut and curb some of the crime problems, senseless killings, and things of that nature that we’ve had,” he said.
The Board of Elections will be certifying the votes on Tuesday. If there is a runoff, it will be held on June 18th.
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