San Angelo police chief candidates speak out ahead of runoff elections
Lt. Mike Hernandez and Sgt. Travis Griffith are getting ready to face off in a June 15 runoff race to see who will become the next police chief for San Angelo.
Hernandez garnered the most votes, followed by Griffith.
Where and when to vote early
Early voting will occur in June at the Edd B. and Frances Frink Keyes Building at 113 W. Beauregard Ave.
8 a.m. to 5 p.m. June 3-7
7 a.m. to 7 p.m. June 10-11
The last day to receive a ballot by mail is June 4.
'A close race'
Griffith said he knew Saturday's election "would be a close race due to good competition," but he had a lot of supporters who turned out to vote in the general election.
When looking forward to the upcoming runoff, he said is very excited to get back on the campaign trail.
He said he "is not a politician, just a guy trying to make a difference."
Griffith is a police officer with over 15 years on the force. If elected, he hopes to make San Angelo an example of what law enforcement should be with safety, accountability and transparency first.
He also hopes to create new drug taskforces by partnering with other local agencies to provide real enforcement on drug issues such as lower drug prices and higher demand.
He wants to create new anti-drug programming for local schools, which has not been done before.
More: Live blog on election night: Race for San Angelo police chief headed to a runoff
'Hit the ground running . . . again'
On Monday, Hernandez, the top vote getter, said he "would have preferred to win outright on election night," but he had been prepared for a runoff since there were three candidates.
"The threatening weather on Election Day almost certainly hurt voter turnout," he said.
And 15.31% of registered voters cast a ballot in Saturday's elections, according to Tom Green County final unofficial election results.
Hernandez said he wants to work get new voters who did not turn out for Saturday's election to vote in the runoff.
"It’s good to be going in as the frontrunner. We were only 33 votes short of an outright win," he said.
Hernandez said his family and campaign team took Sunday off to rest. They will regroup to review runoff plans this week "and hit the ground running . . . again."
Hernandez, division commander and a nearly 34-year veteran of the force, joined the San Angelo Police Department in 1990 after a short stint with the U.S. Marines.
If elected, he hopes to first change the culture.
"The motto of law enforcement is to protect and serve. I want to change that culture because we serve more than we protect," Hernandez said.
A numbers game
In the end, when looking at all combined voting numbers, Hernandez landed 49.52% of the vote, just 199 votes ahead of Griffiths who grabbed 46.51%.
Christopher Cimino garnered just under 4 percent of the vote and will, therefore, not participate in the upcoming runoff elections.
Saturday's police chief election drew 6,622 voters to the polls.
Most voters cast ballots in person for a total of 7,206 in-person votes in the county's elections, according to the preliminary reconciliation of election totals released Monday.
In addition, 876 mailed in their ballots — 44 of which were rejected or are pending voter action.
An estimated 38 provisional ballots were not included in these totals. A voter whose eligibility to vote is in question may cast a provisional ballot, which might count when those questions are resolved.
Counted ballots added up to 8,038, but the total could change.
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Trish Choate, interim editor, contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on Abilene Reporter-News: San Angelo police chief candidates speak out ahead of runoff elections
