For all that ails Robeson County, near if not at the top of the list is the usage of drugs, both street and prescription, that is rendering numb so many of our people, destroying their lives and those of family and friends around them.

Although we believe the problem is more demand and less supply, the easy availability of drugs is undeniably a chunk of the problem, and has been a big part of the conversation as the sheriff’s race enters its final 16 days. And so Ronnie Patterson, the police chief of Red Springs who wants to switch badges, was left last week to clarify his comment about Red Springs’ drug dealers who like him in that town because he treats them “fair.”

The video of the comment, made during a candidates forum, quickly went viral, and no, it wasn’t edited to change the context. But thinking people knew what Patterson meant, which is that he will treat all people fairly.

But the damage was only beginning.

Wixie Stephens, one of Patterson’s trio of campaign managers who cashes in on voting days by hauling voters, went on Facebook and in two posts that lingered awhile before being removed, promised to pick up drug dealers and their families and carry them to the polls, saying they would produce 500 more votes for Patterson.

Sure did.

There were multiple screen shots made of the posts, and they were shared again and again before Stephens, probably at the order of those with good sense in that campaign, deleted them.

If Patterson is not elected sheriff of Robeson County, that day will surely be a big reason why as most folks understand the scourge of drugs and don’t want those who profit by selling them handpicking a sheriff. The other four candidates should send Stephens a thank-you card.

But what we found of more interest than her inability to control herself, is her belief that she knows how people she gives a lift to the polls are going to vote. In North Carolina, hauling voters is legal, but not if there is a quid pro quo — a reward in exchange for a particular vote.

There were screen shots of the camp distributing sample ballots that clearly instructed those being hauled what the expectation was — legal, but smelly.

A lot of folks noticed, including, we are told, law enforcement tasked with making sure no laws are being broken. We don’t know if lines were crossed, but surely they were approached.

Speaking more generally, we all know this is how elections are won in this county, and that is by hauling uninformed voters to the polls who know exactly how they are expected to vote. Early voting might be a good thing theoretically, but in Robeson County it opens a 13-day window for this kind of abuse, making worse a problem that has given us awful leadership for decades.

How else can it be explained that the average number of terms for our county commissioners, despite being saddled with an earned tag of being the best paid and benefited in North Carolina, is more than three? How else can those commissioners pursue the purchase of a $6 million building with no practical function as a central office when school administrators are saying no and the public is screaming?

They believe they are bullet-proof on Election Day.

Stephens last week, by acting impulsively, not only damaged Patterson’s campaign, but put a bright light on the shadowy practice of hauling in this county, which we believe is reason No. 1 that this county is on the wrong end of so many lists, including crime, health, socio-economic status, educational achievement and on and on.

It was never a well-kept secret, but the exploitation of hauling voters is a bit better known today than a week ago.

We’ve got a suggestion for Stephens. If you want to give the drug dealers a lift, how about dropping them off at the Sheriff’s Office?