Cofield wins Democratic sheriff nomination
Randolph County voters returned to the polls in low, but larger than expected, numbers for a few runoff races. Two of those, the races to determine the Republican nominee for governor and the Democratic nominee for Randolph County sheriff, likely propelled the voters into the polling places.
William Dillard missed making history as the first African-American nominee for sheriff by 424 votes. David Cofield, the official nominee in unofficial voting results, received 1,835 of votes or 56.53 percent compared to 1,411 votes or 43.47 percent for Dillard.
Sheriff Jeff Fuller is retiring so there was no incumbent in this race.
No matter who people supported there were a lot of sad faces at the courthouse because the race was like a family fight, with three of the four candidates in the first primary members of the sheriff’s department and one a member of the Roanoke Police Department. Cofield will face Republican Derek Farr in the Nov. 2 general election.
Randolph County followed the rest of the state in selecting Republican gubernatorial candidate Robert Bentley over Bradley Byrne in somewhat of a shocker. Voters here selected Bentley 60 percent to 40 percent, or 582 votes for Bentley and 388 for Byrne.
Results of the June 1 Republican primary were so close that a recount was needed to confirm Bentley as the second-place winner over Tim James. Bentley will face Democrat nominee Ron Sparks in the fall.
County voters chose Dorman Grace as the Commissioner of Agriculture and Industries over John McMillan by a vote of 53.65 to 46.35 or 470 votes to 406. There were 96 undervotes, or people who voted but did not vote in this race. The winner will face Democratic nominee Glen Zorn in November.
County voters on the Democratic ballot selected James H. Anderson overwhelmingly as attorney general nominee with 77.96 percent of the vote over Giles Perkins with 22.04 percent of the vote, or 1,871 votes to 529. There were 847 undervotes in this race.
In the primary Anderson was just short of the 50 percent needed to not have a runoff. He will face Republican nominee Luther Strange in the general election.
On the Republican ballot for Public Service Commission, Place #1 Twinkle Andress Cavanaugh won 51.69 percent over Stephen Evans with 48.31 percent or 444 votes to 415. There were 113 undervotes in this race. The winner will face Democrat nominee and incumbent Jan Cook in the fall.
The number of voters did fall off from the 32 percent who voted in the June 1 primary to 28 percent in the runoff but Probate Judge George Diamond said those numbers surprised him due to the usual low turnout in runoffs.
The county has 15,054 registered voters, and 4,219 citizens cast votes. Of those the overwhelming majority, 76.96 percent, or 3,307 votes were Democratic ballots and 972 were Republican. One of the largest precincts, the National Guard Armory in Roanoke had close to the numbers cast in the primary.
Registrars said they got more calls on this election than on the June 1 election—mostly where people had moved and they updated at the polls.
Chris May, absentee vote manager, said 158 people applied for absentee ballots and 136 of those were returned. In the primary there were 179 so he was really surprised how close they were, he said.
