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It's over…for now

Crestview News Bulletin, August 30, 2010

The robo-calls are over, the junk mail has stopped flowing, and the mud-slinging ads are off the airwaves, for now.

As of Wednesday, of Okaloosa County’s 127,694 registered voters, 37,283 (29.2 percent) voted in Tuesday’s primary election.

Supervisor of Elections Paul Lux had predicted a total turnout between 35 and 40 percent of the electorate based on early voting trends, but said Okaloosa County’s voting numbers were on par with similar-sized counties elsewhere in the state.

“Our turnout was not the highest in the state but it was not the lowest,” Lux said. “Some counties had a 14 percent turnout. A lot of the smaller counties are in the 50s or high 40s. Some our size are in the mid-30s.”

Voting was generally uneventful, Lux said.

“We had one or two tabulators that had to be replaced,” he said. “We had a couple of reports of solicitation violations, but once we delved into them, it turned out to not be violations at all. They think if they have to walk past campaign signs, a violation took place. The 100-feet restriction zone is measured from the entrance, not the parking lot.

“All in all it was a pretty quiet day,” Lux said.

One of the biggest voter concerns was the inability to vote for candidates in another party.

“We had loads and loads of people who thought they were registered Republican or Democrat but it turned out they weren’t,” Lux said.

Two of the biggest issues on the ballot were the half-cent sales tax requested by the Okaloosa School District, which would’ve raised an estimated $110 million over the next 10 years, and the six-way race for a Republican candidate to run in November for Okaloosa County sheriff.

The sales tax was defeated by 4,501 votes, with 56 percent of voters who cast ballots voting against the measure, which would have funded technology upgrades and equipment repairs and replacements in county schools.

“Unfortunately, the people who are going to be sorry are going to be the kids,” said Okaloosa School District Superintendent Alexis Tibbetts. “We’re one of five districts in the state of Florida that have no revenue source totally dedicated to public education.

“We’re going to have to get by with what we have, but there are consequences for decisions,” Tibbetts continued. “The people have spoken and we have to live with their decision.”

Tibbetts said that scheduled school repair projects will have to come off the five-year priority list as emergency repairs arise and devour limited funds. Over the next year, Tibbetts said, the district has slightly more than $4 million to distribute for repairs to 41 buildings. If another situation similar to the failure of Edge Elementary School’s air conditioning system occurs, the money can vanish rapidly.

“I try to be very proactive,” Tibbetts explained. “Instead of roofing buildings every few years, we will now work problems as they occur. That is not what proactive is. You do not come to work every day and fix the problem of the day. People who are leaders fix the problems in advance. We will have to put band-aids on things as they break. It will cost us more in the long run.”

In addition to school infrastructure, the money from the tax would also have enhanced the schools’ technology capabilities.

“The access for technology has been limited, too,” Tibbetts said. “The teachers can’t teach students about something teachers don’t have access to.

In the sheriff’s race, Chief Deputy Larry Ashley commanded a strong lead over the other five candidates, Behind his 12,232 votes, the closest competitor was Rick Hord, with 7,056. Ron Livingston and Steve Menchel trailed with 3,442 and 2,861 votes respectively, with Bill Patterson and Tony Taylor bringing up the rear.

“We continue to improve our agency for the people and to be transparent and available,” Ashley said. “People want to trust their public officials. What I saw on the campaign trail, there was a lot of angry people about things that occurred. They want to trust the person and they want the person to be accessible to them.”

In the Republican primary race for state senate, District 2, Rep. Greg Evers bested Mike Hill 5,811 votes to 2,589.

“I ran…because I am a proud, conservative fifth-generation Northwest Floridian, farmer and small businessman,” Evers said during his victory speech in Milton Tuesday night.

During the upcoming race for the general election, Evers vowed “to make certain Northwest Florida does not take a back seat to the interests of South and Central Florida in the Legislature.”

Election results

Unofficial results from Tuesday’s primary election in Okaloosa County, including absentee and early voting ballots.

                                                Percent    Votes

UNITED STATES SENATOR - REP                              

1. William Escoffery III         9.36%      2,502
2. William Billy Kogut        11.30%   3,022
3. Marco Rubio                       79.35%   21,221

                                                TOTAL   26,745

UNITED STATES SENATOR - DEM                             

1. Glenn A. Burkett               11.62%   683
2. Maurice A. Ferre                 4.01%      236
3. Jeff Greene                            47.43%   2,788
4. Kendrick B. Meek              36.93%   2,171

                                                TOTAL   5,878

REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS DISTRICT 2 - REP                        

1. Eddie Hendry                     4.11%      154
2. Ron McNeil                         10.71%   401
3. Barbara F. Olschner           10.13%   379
4. David Scholl                       61.72%   2,310
5. Steve Southerland             13.33%   499

                                                TOTAL   3,743

REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS DISTRICT 2 - DEM                      

1. Allen Boyd                          69.60%   348
2. Al Lawson                           30.40%   152

                                                TOTAL   500

GOVERNOR - REP                           

1. Mike McCalister                15.61%   4,292
2. Bill McCollum                    37.15%   10,212
3. Rick Scott                            47.24%   12,987

                                                TOTAL   27,491

GOVERNOR - DEM                          

1. Brian P. Moore                   37.69%   2,077
2. Alex Sink                             62.31%   3,434

                                                TOTAL   5,511

ATTORNEY GENERAL - REP                      

1. Holly Benson                     48.54%   12,485
2. Pam Bondi                           22.57%   5,805
3. Jeff Kottkamp                       28.89%   7,429

                                                TOTAL   25,719

ATTORNEY GENERAL - DEM

1. Dave Aronberg                                     46.30%   2,390
2. Dan Gelber                          53.70%   2,772

                                                TOTAL   5,162

STATE SENATOR DISTRICT 2 - REP                         

1. Greg Evers                           69.18%   5,811
2. Mike Hill                             30.82%   2,589

                                                TOTAL   8,400

STATE REPRESENTATIVE DISTRICT 1 - REP                       

1. Greg Brown                         32.01%   702
2. Doug Broxson                    54.63%   1,198
3. Ricky G. Perritt                  5.20%      114
4. Ferd Salomon                      8.16%      179

                                                TOTAL   2,193

SHERIFF - REP                                   

1. Larry Ashley                       43.62%   12,232
2. Rick Hord                            25.16%   7,056
3. Ron Livingston                 12.28%   3,442
4. Steven Menchel                  10.20%   2,861
5. Bill Patterson                     4.57%      1,280
6. Tony R. Taylor                    4.17%      1,168

                                                TOTAL   28,039

COUNTY COMMISSIONER DISTRICT 2 - REP                       

1. Dave Parisot                       53.78%   14,306
2. Elaine Tucker                      46.22%   12,297

                                                TOTAL   26,603

COUNTY COMMISSIONER DISTRICT 4 - REP                       

1. Don Amunds                       55.65%   14,120
2. Danny Bennett                   44.35%   11,253

                                                TOTAL   25,373

CIRCUIT JUDGE, 1ST CIRCUIT GROUP 3                             

1. 5.28%      1,804
2. Clint Davis                          7.04%      2,403
3. Michael A. Flowers           48.82%   16,670
4. Al Lawson                           15.83%   5,404
5. Alishia W. McDonald      11.80%   4,031
6. Robert E. McGill III          11.23%   3,836

                                                TOTAL   34,148

SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER DISTRICT 3                                  

1. Paul Wendel Brock           46.06%   15,088
2. Rodney Walker                  53.94%   17,666

                                                TOTAL   32,754

SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER DISTRICT 5                                  

1. Howard Hill                        43.80%   15,037
2. Melissa Thrush                                     56.20%   19,292

                                                TOTAL   34,329

REFERENDUM REGARDING LEVY OF SALES SURTAX BY SCHOOL BOARD TO FINANCE TECHNOLOGY AND EDUCATIONAL FACILITIES                              

1. YES: For the 0.5 cents (1/2%) sales tax         
2.                                                 43.86%   16,076
3. NO: Against the 0.5 cents (1/2%) sales tax  
4.                                                 56.14%   20,577

                                                TOTAL   36,653

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