Early voting is underway in Georgia, and while many people are focusing on the presidential campaign, don't forget about your local races. One of the hot ones is for Laurens County Sheriff.
If you walk inside of Dublin's Sheriffs Department, you'll see a wall full of pictures of former Laurens County Sheriffs.
Dublin native Larry Dean says he wants to be on that wall.
“We get teams to come in here these last 21 days, and we're going to go out as groups and still try and cover the county area,” said Dean.
Dean says he has 28 years in law enforcement. 3 of those years at the Department of Corrections and the remaining 25 years at the Department of Natural Resources.
He says there is a mistrust between law enforcement and the public in Laurens County, and he hopes to change that if elected.
“If I'm the Sheriff of Laurens County, I'll be out in your community, in your business building a public relationship. You've got to build the trust of the people,” said Dean.
He also says the sheriff's office has a turnover problem, and he says he wants to fix that.
Dean is challenging incumbent Bill Harrell.
Harrell held the seat as sheriff for 12 years and also has 30 years of experience in law enforcement.
“It takes a lot of hours of being able to do your job. You got to be very diligent,” said Harrell. “I've have always said that I was going to be visible, accessible, and was going to be a hands-on working Sheriff.”
Both candidates agree that they need the community's help in tackling crime.
“We can't be everywhere at all times, but we like to make sure that the community to contact us and be our eyes and ears and let us know if they see something out of the ordinary,” said Harrell.
Many people lined up for the polls to vote in the race.
Early voting ends November 4th.
Polls are open at the registrar’s office Monday-Friday 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. and is open on October 29th, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.