In less than 10 days, Adams County voters head to the polls again to select between two men vying for the Democratic nomination for county sheriff.

Although the winner of the Aug. 25 runoff will face independent Elvis Prater in the November election, many political watchers suggest Prater is a long shot.

If that’s the case, next Tuesday’s primary could effectively decide the next Adams County sheriff.

The election poses several interesting dynamics for voters.

Do they choose from a candidate who is younger or older, more experienced or more energetic?

Among the other perennial dynamics in Southern politics is race. In this case, one candidate is white and the other is black.

That shouldn’t matter for many, but it does.

Both candidates are lobbying hard to retain all the votes they had in the primary election as well as gain votes that went to the third-most vote getter in the primary election.

Local political watchers suggest, as they almost always do, that candidates will need to work hard to gain blocks of voters often delineated by race — the white vote, the black vote, black boxes or white boxes.

Such generalized descriptions are often rooted by the fact that voters often vote along racial lines.

But wouldn’t it be nice if we could ever get to a point in time where such phrases were as antiquated as wagon wheels and butter churns?

The fact is, perhaps most notably in a sheriff’s race, what we should be seeking is the best person to lead a team of men and women charged with keeping us safe — red, yellow, black or white.