Local & State Headlines

Runoff votes to be cast Tuesday

• Voters return to the polls Tuesday for local and statewide runoffs and a special primary.

Susan McCord

SYLVESTER — Candidates in area races for sheriff, tax commissioner and a countywide commission seat are nearing the end of an exhausting campaign season with runoff voting Tuesday.

More than a few voters cast ballots early during Advance Voting held last week, including some 300 in Worth County and 495 in Lee County, according to elections officials.

In Worth, six-term sheriff Freddie Tompkins is in a runoff with one of his deputies, former GBI Agent Mike Hill, who remains on unpaid leave from the department.

“I think I’ve done a good job all these years,” Tompkins said Friday. “I’ve been dedicated; I’ve been loyal to Worth County.”

Tompkins, 61, who recently reinstated Deputy Tommy Adams after Adams finished third in the sheriff’s race July 15, said being sheriff in rural Worth County involves more than enforcing the laws.

His department regularly checks elderly residents and conducts respectful funeral escorts “because I help my citizens out. That’s what they expect. ... It (has) nothing to do with law enforcement.”

If Tompkins is re-elected, Hill, who disclosed a campaign budget of more than $20,000, may be returning to his job as head of the county drug squad.

“That would be up to him,” Tompkins said. “I have never fired anybody that has run against me.”

Hill, who held a “meet the candidate” event Saturday in Sylvester, said he felt “good about how things have gone” during the campaign. “I’ve had a lot of support in the community.”

He said he’s tried throughout the campaign to dispel rumors surrounding his departure from the GBI, and about staffing changes he’d make if elected.

Hill, 31, resigned from the GBI in 2005 to continue his education and work for the Worth County Sheriff’s Office, according to a GBI document.

“I think most people, after they’ve had a chance to examine the facts of the situation, they’ve understood,” he said.

If elected, he does not plan to fire any sheriff’s personnel, but there will be “new expectations for everyone,” Hill said.

“I think it would be wrong for someone to worry about losing their career and their livelihood because of a change at the top,” he said. “Everybody will be given a fresh slate and will be given an opportunity.”

Hill received 34.7 percent of the votes to Tompkins’ 45.9 percent in the July 15 primary.

The two Worth County runoffs are on the Democratic ballot, alongside the statewide runoff for the Democratic U.S. Senate nomination between Vernon Jones and Jim Martin.

In Lee County, a race continues on the Republican ballot between Tricia Quinn and Susan Smith, who are in a runoff for the position of tax commissioner.

“I hope the people of Lee County continue with their positive change and elect someone who has the experience and the qualifications to get the job done,” said Quinn, who currently serves as administrator for Lee’s Utilities Authority.

Smith said Friday she was “completely exhausted and ready to get there.

“It’s been a very busy time,” she said, reminding voters to cast ballots Tuesday.

“Just please, go out and vote,” she said. “If they don’t, it’s going to feel like everything we’ve all done has been a waste of time.”

Smith, an office manager for Georgia Farm Bureau, garnered 44.1 percent of the votes to Quinn’s 31.8 percent in the July 15 primary.

None of the candidates in Tuesday runoffs in Lee and Worth have opponents to face in the November election.

After he was unopposed for re-election 4 years ago, Dan Miller is in a runoff Tuesday for the office of Worth County Commission Chair that Worth elects countywide.

“We’ll know for sure Tuesday,” said Miller, who has stressed his experience and training as a county commissioner.

“I took the Worth County leadership course and all that kind of thing before I even ran for politics,” he said.

Miller, who runs a meat packing company, is opposed by Matt Medders, a newcomer to politics who works for Miller Brewing in Albany.

Medders was caring for a sick child Friday, but spoke briefly with The Albany Herald.

“I hope that each and every citizen would take the opportunity to go out and vote for Matt Medders,” he said, “to elect him chairman of the Worth County Board of Commissioners and give me the chance to make Worth County better.”

Worth voters who participate in the Democratic runoffs cannot vote in another race, a special Republican primary to fill a vacancy left by Sen. Joseph Carter, R-Tifton, that has attracted five contenders from three of Senate District 13’s eight counties.

Voter turnout for the primary during advance voting was extremely light last week in the district’s counties of Worth, Ben Hill, Irwin, Turner and Wilcox.

Senate District 13’s other three counties — Crisp, Lee and Tift — had better results. Some 456 cast advance Republican votes in Lee County, and 477 in Tift County, according to elections officials.

In the Senate race Tuesday are John Dickey Crosby of Tifton, Horace Hudgins of Ocilla, Wally Roberts of Leesburg, Rusty Simpson of Tifton and Bob Usry of Smithville.

If no candidate receives more than 50 percent of votes Tuesday, a special Republican primary runoff will be held between the top two finishers on Aug. 26, for which early voting would begin Aug. 18.

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