With six of seven precincts reporting partial counts just after 9 p.m., Dade County Republican candidates for sheriff Ray Cross and incumbent Patrick Cannon appear to be neck and neck in the GOP primary with Cross leading by just nine votes, state election tallies showed.
Neither Cannon nor Cross have enough votes yet to avoid a runoff on Aug. 21, however. If percentages remain the same, Cannon and Cross will face each other again in a few weeks.
Two other races are shaping up for runoff elections, too.
In Dade's Republican District 3 Board of Education primary, incumbent Ronnie Page and John L. Warren were separated by fewer than 20 votes with the incumbent holding the advantage at 9 p.m. Neither candidate has the required 51 percent of the vote to avoid a runoff.
In the Board of Education District 5 race, where five candidates are vying for the GOP nod, incumbent David Powell is leading Careyee Bell by about 170 votes at the 9 p.m. count. Neither of them has the required percentage of the vote to avoid a runoff.
Dade County voters in both parties so far are overwhelmingly in support of the County Commission establishing a fixed portion of county property taxes to fund the public library.