From the Tallahassee Democrat - The City of Sopchoppy’s elections this week showed that in North Florida, every vote counts. The 1.5 square-mile town in Wakulla County saw a jump in turnout for Tuesday’s municipal elections, which swept two sitting city commissioners from office. Citizens cast a total of 121 ballots: 77 at the polls and and 44 absentee ballots, up from 89 total ballots and 14 absentee ballots in the previous year’s election. That brought total turnout to 47 percent. The mayor is an honorary position chosen among fellow commissioners, who are entitled to an annual salary of $1 apiece (though Jackie Lawhon, who’s been City Clerk for 34 years, said no one’s ever collected it). The sitting mayor, Colleen Skipper-Mitchell, lost her re-election bid by a single vote. The top three vote-getters were elected to the city commission. One of the losing candidates is crying foul and questioning the role of city officials, who help administer municipal elections and keep track of absentee ballots prior to Election Day. Anginita Rosier said she was conferring with her attorney and considering filing a complaint with the state Division of Elections. She said she was piqued by the spike in turnout and the rise in the number of absentee ballots. “Considering past elections and the number of people who usually vote in these elections, that is a significant jump,” she said. To boost turnout, the city had made additional efforts to inform voters of the election, placing reminders on both sides of the sign in front of Sopchoppy Hardware downtown and posting a prominent button on its website telling citizens “Your Vote Counts” — an axiom emphasized by Tuesday’s result. Lawhon said that could explain the increase in votes cast in a city where elections tend to be “low-key” affairs, in which candidates open campaign accounts as a matter of course but seldom spend any money campaigning. She said the city had not received any complaints. Buddy Wells, the Wakulla County Supervisor of Elections, dropped off polling equipment Tuesday morning and watched the vote count in the evening. He said he drove to Sopchoppy in the middle of the day, after the local Democratic Party relayed reports of problems at the polls, including questions about who was eligible to pick up absentee ballots for other voters. He said he found no sign of trouble after he arrived. The local canvassing board performed a recount on the spot Tuesday evening to verify Skipper-Mitchell’s narrow margin of defeat. Reached on Wednesday, the outgoing mayor would not discuss the possibility of joining Rosier to challenge the result. “I‘m just really grateful that the citizens of Sopchoppy allowed me to serve them for 13 years,” she said. The initial results, certified after the recount, showed: • Eddie Evans — 89; • Nathan Lewis — 75; • Glenn Rudd — 66; • Colleen Skipper-Mitchell — 65; • Anginita Rosier — 40. (article by Travis Pillow)
Posted on: Thu, 13 Jun 2013 16:25:43 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015