MANATEE COUNTY — Scott Farrington, who is running to be Manatee County’s next Supervisor of Elections, has officially qualified for the August 20 Republican primary ballot. The former chief of staff to retired SOE Mike Bennett qualified by submitting the required number of signed petitions.
Qualifying by signature petition is rare for countywide candidates because the signature count is based on the number of constituents the office would have. In this case, Farrington was required to submit 2,806 valid petitions, a number he surpassed by nearly a thousand.
Farrington benefited from strong voter backlash following the appointment of James Satcher to the SOE position after Bennett announced that he would retire before his term ended.
“The majority of the petitions were gathered in just three weeks,” said Farrington. “With the help of dozens of volunteers, we collected these petitions by going door to door, at markets, music events, a parade, and any place people were gathered.”
Both Farrington and Satcher applied for the interim appointment, but only Farrington had relevant experience. Farrington is a Certified Elections Administrator and Master Florida Certified Election Professional. During 20-plus years working in the elections offices of both Sarasota and Manatee counties, he has overseen more than 75 elections. Satcher was a first-term Manatee County Commissioner at the time he was selected over Farrington.
While many of the signatures were gathered at public events, more than 700 voters made the effort to mail in their petitions. The interest in the race also amounted to a strong grassroots fundraising effort that saw Farrington's campaign raise over $45,000 in campaign funds over April and May.
“This kind of enthusiasm is really unusual and happened because Manatee County voters want to trust their elections,” said Farrington. “I am truly humbled and inspired by the hard work of so many people that made this possible. I would never have come this far by myself.”
Only Satcher and Farringtopn will be on the ballot, but the qualification deadline also saw the use of the write-in loophole to close what would have been an open primary to Republican voters exclusively.
“We were expecting a write-in to close the primary," said Farrington. "It has become a common tactic taken by those candidates who don’t believe they can win the support of all the voters. If you wish to vote in this primary race or other Manatee County Primary races, make sure you are registered to vote as a Republican by going to RegisterToVoteFlorida.gov.”
The deadline to register or change parties is July 22.
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Dianna
As one of the 700 there are a lot of important issues on the ballot. Voters are quite concerned that our votes will not be counted especially considering that one of the sitting commissioners will be the canvasser and clearly we all do not have the same "ideology". How likely is it that our votes will not count? What exactly happens when they audit a race? Voters are concerned about the future of almost a million dollars in the inexperienced hands of (Satcher) someone with zero experience. We hope that you will be a guest on the Times podcast soon and give an inside view of the elections office.
Tuesday, June 18 Report this
sandy
I too am one of the 700. And proud of it. I have also changed my affiliation because of the SOE after being a registered Democrat since 1975. To be honest, at that time I did that because my parents were Democrats and where I grew up you had a better chance of a civil service job because Democrats were predominant. I never voted a straight party line which disappointed some family members. I will be watching closely to see if Satcher actually does the right thing tallying up votes. Vote Farrington in the primary!
Tuesday, June 18 Report this