Recall effort against sheriff falls short of needed signatures
AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - A Richmond County resident’s effort to get Sheriff Richard Roundtree booted has faltered just after leaving the starting gate.
Eric Loggins took the initial steps to initiate a recall election, but the Richmond County Board of Elections on Wednesday said his effort fell short.
On Aug. 30, Loggins took out a recall application and had 15 days to gather 100 signatures of so-called sponsors. He turned in the signatures last week.
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The board met Wednesday and “found the application insufficient” in that it didn’t contain the required 100 sponsors, according to Travis Doss, executive director of the board.
“Since the application did not meet the required legal sufficiency, the petition was denied,” Doss said.
If Loggins had met the requirement, he would have gotten the go-ahead to try to gather signatures of 30% of registered voters in the county. Then if that petition passed muster, the board could have scheduled a recall election.
HOW DOES A RECALL WORK?
In submitting his initial application, Loggins wrote:
“Sheriff Richard Roundtree has failed to protect the innocent and uphold the law with the failure of his administration to appropriately charge individuals when crimes have been committed and witnesses are present.”
It’s unknown what sparked Loggins’ efforts, but he contacted News 12 in late August saying the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office hadn’t sufficiently investigated a driver involved in a crash in his driveway.
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