By Mark Woolsey

With the Cobb County elections board having certified results of the Feb. 11 county  commission district 2 and 4 primary elections, the one remaining race to be decided is moving full steam ahead.

Both Dr. Jaha Howard and Erick Allen are working in reconfigured District 2, chatting up potential voters and sticking to their core messages while they eye the quickly- approaching March 11 runoff vote.

Neither Allen nor Howard reached 50 percent of the vote total in the Feb. 11 party primaries,  necessitating the trip back to the polls.

“We’re going to be communicating with voters in a lot of different ways,” says Allen, a former state representative.  “The traditional ways of knocking on doors and making phone calls. That’s the best way to campaign no matter what anybody tells you.”

In addition, he’s scheduled a series of “coffee and conversation” events at local coffee shops to engage voters one on one.

Howard, a pediatric dentist and former Cobb school board member, indicates that he’s concentrating on phone work.

“What’s been helpful to us is making as many personal candidate phone calls as possible,” he says. “Real, genuine calls.”

He thinks the personal approach builds trust and is beneficial in that he talks to people who don’t show up at candidate events and town halls, providing him with valuable feedback.

Howard also says they’re working to target those who have a consistent voting record first. He says their mail effort is designed along the same lines. And of course, there’s door to door work.

“We want to be good stewards of our campaign money.” he says, adding that with a limited amount of money to work with, spending decisions have to be carefully considered.

And both say they’re seeing good  progress getting the word out and engaging voters, something that traditionally has been a battle in runoff elections.

Allen says that he’s personally made more than 1,000 contacts and the campaign itself has touched base with thousands more.

“This election is going to come down to turnout,” he says.

“We’ve done well with super voters, but there is much more work to be done for the broader voter base,” says Howard  He defines super voters as those who show up for every election, no matter what the details are in a voting cycle.

And both say there are no new facets or surprises in their messages. For Howard the issues include public safety and a healthy business climate where everyone from a mom-and-pop operation to a large corporations can thrive.

He also sets great store by access and  stressing to voters that government belongs to them.

Allen stresses such talking points as  keeping taxes low and services high quality and addressing housing affordability and homelessness.

He also places a heavy emphasis on what he calls “values.”

 Allen says “We’re just asking people to look at the candidates and make a choice. Something comes across our desk that rattles us or we’re not expecting. Who do we think is going to respond and who do we think is going to react? And I think a response is more important than a reaction.”

He cites such quickly-arising issues that have confronted commissioners as Major League Baseball pulling the All Star Game out of Truist Park in 2021. That was in reaction to state lawmakers and the governor signing off on what were seen as more restrictive voting provisions.

Allen indicates he feels better equipped to respond to such situations than his opponent.

In a somewhat similar vein, Howard highlights accountability.

“We have to be held accountable and it’s hard to do that if we don’t go out of our way to be held accountable.”

“So that’s another reason I go out of my way. I want them to have that connection.”

Early voting in the race begins March 3.Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. for both the early voting period and on March 11. The general special election is set for April 29, and the winner of the Democratic primary runoff will face Republican Alicia Adams.