Who’s in the race?

Lazaro Aleman
ECB Publishing, Inc.

With the voter registration books set to close early next week and early voting for the Presidential Preference Primary Election (PPP) only weeks away, the Jefferson County Election Office is reminding voters that Florida is a closed primary election state.
Meaning that only voters who are registered members of a political party may vote for their respective party's candidates or nominees in a primary election, including the PPP.
That said, the first critical day is Tuesday, Feb. 18, when the election office is set to close the books for party and new registrations for the PPP. Individuals who have not registered by 8:30 a.m. on this Tuesday will not be able to vote in the primary.
Keep in mind that your registrations must also be current. If your name, address or political party affiliation has changed since the last election, you must update your registration.
The next important date to remember is Saturday, March 7, when early voting begins for the PPP. Early voting will run 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday to Saturday, March 7-14, including Sunday, March 8. The election office, however, adds the caveat that these days and times may yet change.
The next important dates, for candidates at least, is the week of June 8-12, when individuals planning to seek a public office must qualify.
Qualification is when candidates either must pay a fee that represents a percentage of the salary of the office they are seeking, or they submit a voters’ petition containing the signatures of a specified percentage of registered voters. Qualification for the 2020 election is noon Monday to noon Friday, June 8-12. Note, however, that for candidates planning to qualify by petition, the critical date is Monday, May 11, which is when they must submit their list of signatures.
So far, the number of candidates who have pre-qualified for 12 local offices up for elections is 20, consisting of both incumbents and newcomers. Pre-qualification, which is not necessarily a precursor to qualification, allows candidates to set up campaign accounts, name campaign managers and begin soliciting donations.
The 12 offices up for election are Sheriff; Supervisor of Elections; Superintendent of School; Clerk of Court and Comptroller; Tax Collector; Property Appraiser; County Commissioner, Districts 1, 3 and 5; and School Board, Districts 1 and 4.
Noteworthy, the number of Republicans and No Party Affiliation (NPA) candidates so far outnumber Democrats, not to mention that three of the incumbents were former Democrats who switched party affiliation since the last election.
A breakdown of candidates who have pre-qualified thus far and the offices that they are seeking:
Sheriff – incumbent Mac McNeill (R).
Supervisor of Election – incumbent Marty Bishop (NPA).
Superintendent of School – incumbent Marianne Arbulu (R) and challengers Al Cooksey (R), Eydie Tricquet (R) and LaClarence Mays (D).
Clerk of Circuit Court and Comptroller – incumbent Kirk Reams (R) and challenger Tiffany Washington (NPA).
Tax Collector – incumbent Lois Howell-Hunter (D) and challenger Lynn Stafford (R).
Property Appraiser – incumbent Angela Gray (D).
County Commissioner, District 1 – Michael Robinson (R) and Chris Tuten (NPA).
County Commissioner, District 3 – incumbent J.T. Surles (R) and challengers C.P. Miller (D) and Ben Ransom Jr. (D).
County Commissioner, District 5 – incumbent Stephen Walker (NPA);
School Board District 1 – incumbent Gladys Roann-Watson.
School Board District 4 – incumbent Bill Brumfield and challenger Karen Purser.
School Board races are nonpartisan.
As of Tuesday, Feb. 11, the county had 9,792 registered voters. Of these, 5,143 were Democrats, 3,504 were Republican and 1,145 identify as Other. A notable trend in recent years has been an increase in the number of Republicans and those who identify as other.