By Matt Wiley
Although there weren’t too many of them, the votes are in for the 2014 Primary Election, which has determined which names officially will appear on the November General Election ballot in New Tampa, as well as having elected three new judges.
Even though Florida is electing a governor again this year, 2014 is not a Presidential Election year, and the turnout at the polls for the recent Primary Election sadly reflects just that. Of the nearly 40,000 registered voters in the 12 voting precincts in New Tampa’s 33647 zip code, only 4,904 ballots were cast — for a voter turnout of only 12.3 percent.
In Hillsborough County, there are more than 750,000 registered voters, with only 123,357 ballots were cast — a 16.31-percent voter turnout. Not only was New Tampa’s turnout four points lower than the county’s turnout in the Primary, our precincts comprised only 3 percent of the county’s votes, even though we are more than 5 percent of the county’s registered voters.
Compare those dismal numbers with the 2012 Presidential Election, when New Tampa had a 77.5-percent voter turnout, with nearly 30,000 ballots cast. New Tampa’s voters made up about 5 percent of Hillsborough County’s total 747,605 registered voters and, with just more than 545,000 ballots cast countywide, our precincts also totalled more than 5 percent of the ballots cast.
While the Aug. 26 election was just a primary and voters had to be registered with the party for which the primary was being held, local elections are where voters’ voices actually can be heard most. The winners of the November General Election will be making the decisions that could directly affect your community. So, come Tuesday, November 4, get out there and vote!
The deadline to register with the Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections office is Monday, October 6, with early voting beginning Thursday, October 23, and running through Sunday, November 2.
Primary Results
Coming as little surprise, the Florida Division of Elections reports that former Republican Florida Governor Charlie Crist (D-St. Petersburg) will go head-to-head against current Gov. Rick Scott (R-Tallahassee), who is hoping to keep the state’s top seat for another four years. Crist won 74.37 percent of the statewide vote against Nan Rich (D-Weston), with 963 of those votes cast in New Tampa, or about 81 percent of the total ballots cast in our precincts.
Meanwhile, Gov. Scott also steamrolled past opponents Elizabeth Cuevas-Neunder (R-Sarasota), who earned just more than 10-percent of the vote and Yinka Abosede Adeshina (R-Tallahassee), who earned just more than one percent of the state’s vote. New Tampa cast 984 votes for Gov. Scott, who won about 91 percent of New Tampa’s vote.
Florida voters also had to choose who would appear on the ballot against incumbent Attorney General Pam Bondi (R-Tampa). George Sheldon (D-Tallahassee) defeated Perry E. Thurston (D-Ft. Lauderdale) with 60.66-percent of the vote, with 804 of those votes coming from New Tampa, which represented about 63 percent of our vote.
Locally, although New Tampa won’t vote for its local District county commissioner until November, when current Dist. 2 Comm. Victor Crist (R-New Tampa) will take on Elizabeth Beltcher (D-Seffner), residents did vote for the countywide District 7 seat, where current District 4 commissioner Al Higginbotham (R-Plant City) and Patricia “Pat” Kemp (D-Tampa) will battle it out for the District 7 seat.
Higginbotham won in a landslide, gathering 66.48-percent of the vote (664 votes from New Tampa, or 64%), with his closest opponent Tim Schock gathering only 15.79-percent of the vote. Kemp beat out Mark Nash (D-Brandon) with 65.42-percent of the county’s vote, with support from 778 New Tampa voters (or 72%).
The Thirteenth Judicial Circuit Judge races were not entirely decided in the Primary, as two races will have to be decided in November because one candidate didn’t receive at least 50 percent plus one vote to earn the six-year term. In Group 8, Barbara Twine Thomas will take on Carl C. Hinson and Melissa “Missy” Polo will again face Robert Bauman on the November ballot for Group 34. However, Michael Scionti is now the new Group 19 judge and Laura Ward won the election for Group 20. For County Judge Group 12, Chris Nash received more than 65 percent of the vote, defeating opponent Norman S. Cannella.
In the Hillsborough County School Board race, although our District 3 seat currently held by Cindy Stuart is not up for election this year, the countywide District 6 seat is up for grabs. Of the eight candidates, incumbent April Griffin and Dipa Shah will battle it out in November to see who will claim the seat. Griffin was able to gather 26.97-percent of the vote, while Shah finished second with 16.41-percent. In a School Board race, the top two winners in the Primary go on to the General Election if no one garners at least 50% of the ballots cast +1 vote.
In our next issue & at NTNeighborhoodNews.com, we’ll give you more info about the candidates New Tampa will be voting for on Nov 4.
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