Looking at the numbers in the Floyd County sheriff’s race
♦ Roberson owns most county precincts while Caldwell holds his own in the city.
Looking at the results in the sheriff’s race from this past Tuesday’s primary a couple of things jump out: Dave Roberson dominated many larger county precincts and Tom Caldwell overall did better in the city precincts.
Roberson got over 48% of the vote in the race, falling just short of the 50 plus one percent to win the contest outright. He won nearly every precinct with the exception of three: Town Rome and East Rome in the city and Alto Park in the county.
But even though Roberson took the other four city precincts it was only by a slim margin.
In Mount Alto North, Caldwell pulled in 304 to Roberson’s 364. Mount Alto South was an even tighter margin with Caldwell pulling in 370 votes to Roberson’s 374. In North Rome, Caldwell got 305 to Roberson’s 348. In South Rome, which had very low voting numbers, Caldwell brought in 35 to Roberson’s 65.
Where Roberson picked up a lot of steam was in several county precincts. He doubled or nearly doubled the amount of votes that Caldwell got in Barkers, Cave Spring, Etowah, East Lindale, Watters and West Lindale.
Those precincts brought in the bulk of the 2,000 vote lead that Roberson took out of the primary. Caldwell brought in 5,079 votes overall and Roberson brought in 7,130.
The contested precincts in the city appear to be Mount Alto North and South as well as East Rome, North Rome and South Rome. The lone remaining city precinct — Town Rome — could even be contested if voters are swayed by a social media post concerning the, now former, third candidate Ronnie Kilgo.
On Thursday morning, after votes were tallied, Kilgo gave what appeared to be an endorsement for Roberson’s campaign. He posed in a photo with Roberson holding the candidate’s distinctive baby blue sign along with the message “As we look toward the runoff in August, I am proud and sincerely grateful to have the support of Ronnie Kilgo.” Several calls to Kilgo to verify what appears to be an endorsement have not been returned.
If Kilgo supporters turn their votes directly to the Roberson campaign because of the former candidate’s support, that would even out the wins Caldwell brought in during the primary.
While it’s unlikely that will happen wholesale, there’s another factor the two men running for Floyd County’s top law enforcement position will have to consider.
Candidates often have a difficult time bringing voters back to the polls to cast their ballot in a runoff. Floyd County had a decent turn out rate in this primary — just over a 34% voter turnout rate — likely because of several positions on the line including a U.S. Congressional seat. The seat in the U.S. House of Representatives which will be vacated by Tom Graves at the end of his term will also be up for grabs in the runoff.
It’s important to mention that voters can’t cross over to vote in the other party’s runoff, or at least in the sheriff’s race. There will be a new voter registration deadline in the congressional race.
However, anyone who didn’t vote in a different party’s primary and was registered by the May 11 deadline is eligible to vote in the sheriff’s runoff.
With just under two months before what may be Floyd County’s longest running sheriff’s race comes to a close on August 11, we’re expecting to see a lot more campaigning with early voting beginning on July 20 and running through Aug. 7.