Rick Patrick
rick@greenepublishing.com
The citizens of Madison County let their voices be heard on Tuesday, Aug. 23, when the Florida mid-term primary election took place. A crowded field of candidates for the Madison County District School Board was whittled down a good bit when two candidates from District One and two candidates from District Five survived to face off in November. In the District Two school board race, a race that was decided by just 10 votes, VeEtta Hagan was elected to make a return to the school board over current incumbent Surretta Bell.
In the District One school board race, Merv Mattair led the race with 286 votes, or 42.88 percent over second place finisher Katie Knight, who received 248 votes, or 37.18 percent. Current incumbent Susie Williamson was defeated in her re-election bid, coming in third with 133 votes, which equaled 19.94 percent. According to Florida election rules, in non-partisan races, if a candidate receives 50 percent, plus one vote, they win outright. Otherwise, the top two candidates face each other in a runoff.
In the District Five school board race, Devin Thompson narrowly missed winning the seat outright with 505 votes, or 48.46 percent. Thompson will face Donnell Davis, who received 274 votes, or 26.3 percent, in the November runoff. George Monreal received 178 votes, or 17.08 percent and Charles Medders, Sr. received 85 votes, or 8.16 percent.
In the tightest race of the evening, the District Two school board race, former School Board Member VeEtta Hagan was elected to make a return to the school board with 265 votes, or 50.96 percent of the votes cast, over current incumbent Surretta Bell's 255 votes, or 49.04 percent.
Here's how Madison voters voted in the statewide primary races:
U.S. Senator – Democrat:
Val Demings 1,235
Brian Rush 208
William Sanchez 173
Ricardo De La Fuente 73
Governor – Democrat:
Charlie Crist 1,194
Nicole "Nikki" Fried 368
Robert Willis 105
Cadance Daniel 66
Attorney General – Democrat:
Jim Lewis 689
Aramis Ayala 579
Daniel Uhlfelder 358
Commissioner of Agriculture – Democrat: Naomi Esther Blemur 677
Ryan Morales 491
J.R. Gaillot 472
Commissioner of Agriculture – Republican: Wilton Simpson 1,013
James Shaw 398
Statewide, voters followed the same trend as Madison County in most races. In the U.S. Senate Democrat primary, former Orlando Chief of Police Val Demings easily picked up the nod with 1,262,279 votes, or 84.3 percent. She will face incumbent Sen. Marco Rubio in November. Former Republican, turned Independent, turned Democrat Charlie Crist won the Democrat primary in the Governor's race with 903,531 votes, which equaled 59.71 percent. He will face current Governor Ron DeSantis in November. In the Democrat primary for Attorney General Aramis Ayala, the former Orlando area State Attorney who gained fame for refusing to seek the death penalty in any of her cases, won her party's nomination with 637,060, or 44.95 percent of the vote. She will face incumbent Attorney General Ashley Moody, in November. Republican candidate for Agriculture Commissioner and current Florida Senate President Wilton Simpson easily won nomination, with the help of endorsements from many of Florida's Sheriffs, including Madison County Sheriff David Harper, with 1,047,927, or 64.71 percent of the vote. He will face the Democrat nominee for Agriculture Commissioner, Naomi Esther Blemur, who won with 698,479 votes, which equaled 50.36 percent of the vote.
The next election in Madison County will take place on Tuesday, Nov. 8. The deadline for voter registration for the general election is Tuesday, Oct. 11. Early voting for the mid-term general election is scheduled to run from Saturday, Oct. 29, through Saturday, Nov. 5.
For more information on voting in Madison County, please visit the Madison County Supervisor of Elections website at www.votemadison.com, or call (850) 973-6507.