Hey, voters, local primary elections are not over — at least not everywhere.
While some in the state may look ahead to the general election for their next trip to the ballot box, Benton County voters and some in Washington County must decide a couple of runoffs before their final ballots will be set.
Benton County has a countywide runoff vote for sheriff. In Washington County, there is a district runoff for the state Legislature in a district that represents most of Springdale. Both are in-Republican primaries.
That is it. There are no statewide runoffs to help attract turnout. And there are no other runoffs at all in Washington County nor Benton County in either party’s primaries.
For the record, early voting begins Tuesday for the March 22 runoff, so time is short.
Continuing turmoil in the Benton County Sheriff’s Office ought to be reminder enough of how important the sheriff’s race is.
Sheriff Kelley Cradduck faces criminal charges, one for felony tampering with a public record and another for misdemeanor tampering. He has pleaded not guilty. Local judges have all recused and the state Supreme Court will appoint a special judge. Eventually, the criminal issues will be resolved in court.
There are also ongoing grievances filed against this sheriff that suggest the office will remain in turmoil for some time.
Whoever becomes Benton County’s next sheriff will have much to do to set this office on a better course. That’s certainly true for the next elected sheriff but also for anyone who might be called upon to serve in the interim, should Cradduck leave office early.
Voters rightly eliminated Cradduck from consideration for re-election in the March 1 Republican primary. So the party’s nomination — and eventually the office itself — will go to someone else in 2017.
But who will that be? And how many voters will make the decision?
More than 39,000 Benton County voters participated in the first vote for sheriff in the Republican primary.
Only a fraction of them will likely pick which of the two top vote-getters will actually get the nomination.
Whoever that Republican nominee is will face an independent, Glenn Latham, who is a former sheriff’s office detective, in the November general election.
By then, presidential politics and other instate elections will be driving voters to the polls again.
But people need to realize this runoff vote could effectively decide the election in Republican-rich Benton County.
Notably, strong interest in the presidential primary helped bring record numbers of voters to the polls on March 1.
Voters narrowed the field of Republican candidates for sheriff, eliminating Cradduck and Timothy Filbeck while advancing Shawn Holloway and Paul Pillaro to the runoff.
Holloway, a major in the county sheriff’s command, almost won the nomination outright. He secured 49.5 percent of the unofficial vote
Pillaro, a lieutenant in the Lowell Police Department, edged out Cradduck to win the second-place spot. He got 21.1 percent of the vote to Cradduck’s 20.5 percent. Filbeck, a Siloam Springs Police corporal, got 8.9 percent of the March 1 vote.
Again, those percentages were derived from a turnout of more than 39,000 voters in the Republican sheriff’s primary alone.
But who among those voters will follow through to vote in the March 22 runoff election?
Either of these candidates can win. Their chances depend entirely on how motivated their respective supporters are to put one or the other on the ticket as the Republican nominee.
The same is true for the two candidates who will face off in a runoff in the District 88 race for the state House of Representatives.
That one will be between Clint Penzo and Isaac Foley, who got 38.3 and 37.2 percent of the votes, respectively. Eliminated was Philip Humbard with 24.6 percent.
Even fewer voters were involved in that initial count. Altogether, only 4,000 people voted then to choose the runoff contenders.
Just imagine how few might vote to pick between them on March 22.
Whoever those voters are, no matter how few, they will choose the next representative for the Springdale-area district. There is no other candidate, so the Republican nominee will eventually be the district’s next legislator.
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Voters can vote early in both elections Tuesday through Friday and March 21, from 8 a.m.to 4:30 p.m. There will be no early voting on Saturday. In Washington County, early votes can be cast at the Washington County Courthouse in Fayetteville. In Benton County, they can be cast at the courthouse in Bentonville or the county clerk’s satellite offices in Rogers and Siloam Springs.
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Brenda Blagg is a freelance columnist and longtime journalist in Northwest Arkansas.