NATCHEZ &045; The sheriff’s race was a numbers game. While Ronny Brown took most of the boxes &045; and took 43.7 percent of the vote Tuesday night in the Democratic primary, the question of the night was answered with a yes &045; there will be a runoff.

Brown was followed by Danny Barber, who took a little more than 30 percent of the primary votes. Barber and Brown are set for a runoff on Aug. 26.

&uot;I’m happy with that,&uot; Barber said.

Brown said he felt good about the runoff as well and said he is set to work the next few weeks until the runoff.

&uot;We’re gonna start in the morning,&uot; Brown said.

Charles Woods kept the race uncertain and close as the boxes were announced, finishing with 23.12 percent of the votes. Andrea Drane took 2.64 percent of the votes.

And Brown won all boxes except one &045; Kingston &045; which Barber won.

A place Barber concentrated on, saying the rural areas are a place where the &uot;working man’s vote&uot; is. This time he said he’ll concentrate on areas he did not reach before, namely within the city limits.

Barber said he is happy with the turnout of a runoff, especially taking home a large percentage of the vote and not spending nearly as much on his campaign as his runoff partner Brown did.

Barber said he is going to clarify the issues for the runoff, that high crime and drugs are not taking away the jobs, industry is. And that the crime rate has been level for the past eight years, not increasing.

Barber said he will continue to make the children of the community a big issue in his campaign and will add 911 central dispatch as an issue he will concentrate on.

Brown said he is ready to being a three-week campaign. Brown said he will &uot;keep running the same kind of campaign &045; professional and clean.&uot;

Brown was happy to have led the polls in the end.

Now, he said he hoped the voters and other candidates will support him because they are all &uot;after the same objective in this race&uot; &045; to get to the November election.

Barber said, however, he was very disappointed with voter turnout, saying he was &uot;hoping the people would have more interest.&uot;

Woods agreed, saying &uot;I don’t think people understand the importance of this particular race.&uot;

Woods said he thought a better voter turnout would have &uot;helped us tremendously.&uot;

Woods said he was disappointed with the turnout of the race but accepted it. Woods said he was not sure Tuesday night if he would support another candidate for the runoff but would decide later in the week.