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July 31, 2010

Whitfield candidates stress personal communication as key to runoff chances

Charles Oliver charlesoliver@daltoncitizen.com

DALTON — Candidates for two Whitfield County Board of Education seats that will be decided in the Aug. 10 Republican Party runoff say they aren’t taking anything for granted.

“The primary doesn’t mean anything any more. All it did was get us into the runoff,” said Bill Worley, who finished first in a three-way primary race for the Republican nomination for the board’s at large seat with 2,181 votes.

No one got a majority in that race or in the race for the Board of Education District 2 seat, so both races had to go to a runoff on Aug. 10. No Democrats qualified for those seats, so the winners of the runoffs should face no opposition in the November general election.

More than 5,100 Whitfield County voters voted in the July 20 Republican primaries. But at the end of the night just eight votes separated the top two finishers in the race for the District 2 seat. And just 599 votes separated the two top finishers in the race for the school board at large seat.

With turnout expected to be significantly lower for the runoff, the candidates say getting their supporters back to the polls will be the key to victory.

“The winner is going to be the person who does the best job of getting people out to vote,” said Rodney Lock, who finished second in the District 2 race with 1,717 votes.

So what will they be doing to get voters back to the polls?

“I’m just going to be out there meeting as many people as I can, reminding them to vote. I’ve been doing some door to door and going to as many public places as I can,” said Worley.

That sort of personal interaction will be the key, candidates said.

“I’m going to talk to as many people as I can, asking the people who voted for me in the primary to go back out and vote again. I’m going to run some ads in the paper and on the radio,” said Lock.

Tony Stanley, who finished second in the at large race with 1,582 votes, said he is just trying to remind his supporters that “this isn’t over.”

“They need to get back out and vote. I’m on Facebook, and I’ll be out meeting people, just anything I can do. I’m concerned about the number of people that will turn out, but I hope that since there will also be a runoff for governor that will help bring people out,” he said. “I’m trying to talk to people that I know or that I know of. I didn’t get to talk to half the folks I wanted to (during the primary campaign), so I’m really trying to turn the heat up. I’ve been doing a little bit of the door-to-door campaigning, but I feel like I’m intruding on folks.”

Jessica Swinford, who finished first in the District 2 race with 1,725 votes, said voters “need to come out to make their voices heard.”

“I’m going to be meeting people, going to events and calling people on the phone, just encouraging them to make a difference because this race has already proved that every vote counts,” she said.

All four candidates said they were concerned that they haven’t yet heard of any public forums or debates that will be held before the runoff.

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