Fall election brings new ideas, concerns

News

by Rachel Witkowski

Staff Writer

In less than two months, voters will head to the polls for what may prove to be one of the more important elections in recent Florida memory. The Sept. 5 primary will set the stage for a shake up at the top in Tallahassee — voters will elect a new governor, attorney general and Chief Financial Officer. There are also major potential changes in the Florida Senate and House of Representatives and the addition of four new judges in the Fourth Judicial Circuit.

Supervisor of Elections Jerry Holland said his office has everything ready for the primary and the Nov. 7 general election, including new electronic touch screens for all 285 precincts in Duval County.

In addition to the new technology, Holland spent nine months trying to reorganize several precincts in an effort to equitably distribute registered voters among Duval’s precincts. The idea is to create a more efficient voting process.

“It won’t eliminate lines, but the key is so the lines won’t be as long,” he said.

Holland said the newly-installed touch screens will streamline voting, but they do raise one major concern. Although the touch screens allow the disabled community to vote in privacy and include a bilingual program, the touch screen doesn’t create a paper trail. Research has shown the recorded vote on the memory card can be altered, said Holland. He has asked the state legislature to certify equipment that will print a paper trail of votes. However, the attachment costs $600 per machine.

“Our desire is that it will be in place for the presidential election,” he said.

Part of the funding for the touch screen printers could come from filing fees. Some candidates qualify by signed petition, but most opt to pay a qualifying fee that’s based on the salary of the position the candidate is seeking.

Candidates for Duval County court, circuit court and school board are required to pay a fee of 4 percent of their salary during qualifying in order to appear on the ballot in September. The filing fees make up a small percentage of his budget, according to Holland.

“Ninety-nine percent (of funding) comes from the City,” said Holland, who has already raised about $15,000 for his campaign. Holland, the other Constitutional officers, the mayor and City Council will all be on the ballot next spring.

There is no term limits as Supervisor of Elections and Holland said he enjoys what he is doing. However, he might “run for something else one day,” such as Florida Secretary of State.

“There are a lot of different things that I’m interested in but I like what I’m doing. If I don’t serve anything else, that’s OK with me,” said Holland who is more concerned with having an opponent before April’s primaries.

Locally, three candidates have filed to run for mayor and incumbents face opposition in several Council districts. The largest current field is in Dist.11, where Warren Alvarez is term-limited and seven have filed to run for the seat.

“The chance of a recount is higher with more candidates,” said Holland.

Beth Fleet, records director for the Supervisor of Elections, said people are still filling for Duval County School Board and other county seats.

“I think we have a good number of candidates already,” she said. “There is well over 100 for the spring.”

The quarterly financial report for all candidates is due Monday. The following is the list of current candidates for local and some state offices:

Constitutional officers

Mayor
John Peyton (R) — incumbent
Jackie Brown (D)
Diane Melendez (D)

Sheriff
Dale Carson (D)
John Rutherford (R) — incumbent

Supervisor of Elections
Jerry Holland (R) — incumbent

Property Appraiser
Jim Overton — incumbent

Tax Collector
No one has yet filed
• Mike Hogan is the incumbent.

City Council

District 1
Cheryl Grymes (R)
Clay Yarborough (R)
• Incumbent Lake Ray can’t run due to term limits.

District 2
Terry Akins (R)
Dave Baldwin (D)
William Bishop III (R)
Dr. Ellan Duke (R)
Jay Olchak (D)
• Incumbent Lynette Self can’t run due to term limits.

District 3
Richard Clark (R) — incumbent

District 4
George Banks (R)
Earl Johnson Jr. (R)
Don Redman (R)
• Incumbent Suzanne Jenkins can’t run due to term limits.

District 5
Art Shad (R) — incumbent

District 6
Charles Hutcherson (NPA)
Jack Webb (R)
• Sharon Copeland (R) – incumbent, but not seeking re-election.

District 7
Carolyn Anderson (D)
Kenneth Arnold (D)
Marc McCullough Sr. (D)
William Sweet (D)
Martha Valdes-Pellino (D)
• Incumbent Pat Lockett-Felder can’t run due to term limits.

District 8
E. Denise Lee (D)
Rebecca Zeigler (D)
• Incumbent Gwen Yates can’t run due to term limits.

District 9
Elouise Saunders-Bolden (D)
Carrie Davis (D)
Jimmy Midyette Jr. (D)
Valveta Turner (D)
• Incumbent Reggie Fullwood is running for State House of Representatives; he is also unable to run for another Council term due to term limits.

District 10
James Evans-Muhammed (D)
Mia Jones (D) — incumbent

District 11
Richard Berry (R)
Jack Daniels (R)
Frank Hardin (R)
Thomas Harris (R)
Ray Holt (R)
Ray Pringle (R)
Bob Taylor (R)
• Incumbent Warren Alvarez can’t run due to term limits.

District 12
Daniel Davis (R) — incumbent

District 13
Art Graham (R) — incumbent

District 14
Michael Corrigan Jr. (R) — incumbent

At-Large
Group 1
Ronnie Fussell (R) — incumbent
Group 2
Karl “Jay” Jabour III (R)
• Incumbent Elaine Brown can’t run due to term limits
Group 3
Jack Capra (R)
Stephen Joost (R)
• Incumbent Lad Daniels can’t run due to term limits
Group 4
Kevin Hyde (R) — incumbent
Group 5
Gwen Chandler (R)
Glorious Johnson (R) — incumbent

School Board

District 2
Nancy Broner — incumbent
John Meisberg

District 4
Brenda Priestly-Jackson — incumbent

District 6
Vicky Drake — incumbent

United States Representative

District 3
Corrine Brown (D) — incumbent

District 4
John Blade (WRI)
Ander Crenshaw (R)— incumbent
Robert Harms (D)

District 6
David Bruderly (D)
Cliff Stearns (R) — incumbent

State Senator

District 8
Jim King (R) — incumbent
Randall Terry (R)

State Representative

District 12
Aaron Bean (R) — incumbent