For Manatee County SOE, We Recommend Scott Farrington

Scott Farrington won August's Republican primary for Manatee County Supervisor of Elections. Because no other candidates qualified for the ballot, he faces only a write-in challenge for SOE in November.

The Manatee County Supervisor of Elections Office has long been one of the most respected in the state. For decades, Republican Bob Sweat and his eventual replacement, Republican Mike Bennett, ran a streamlined operation that produced impeccable results on the sort of bare-bones budget that was once a pillar of the conservative ideology.

When Bennett unexpectedly retired earlier this year, he credited Farrington, who had been his top lieutenant for the entirety of his eleven years in office, as a major factor in the success the office had enjoyed. In his resignation letter, Bennett gave a full-throated endorsement of Farrington, recommending that he be named the interim SOE upon his retirement.

This should have been an easy decision. Farrington not only had more than a decade at Bennett’s side but had also spent a decade in Sarasota County’s Supervisor of Elections office, where he rose from a temp employee to deputy SOE. With a background in software development, Farrington had a keen grasp of emerging voting technology while earning multiple certifications in the field. Indeed, it is hard to imagine a more qualified successor.

Instead, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis caved to political pressure and appointed then-Manatee County Commissioner James Satcher despite having zero qualifications to be the Supervisor of Elections. The write-in loophole was then used to close what would have been an open primary, denying tens of thousands of Manatee County voters a chance to participate in the democratic process.

Satcher immediately began making a mess of things at the SOE office. Despite claiming to be a conservative, one of his first moves as the interim SOE was to ask for a massive budget increase, the need for which he completely failed to articulate. Conversely, the budget under Bennett and Farrington delivered the lowest cost per voter among all 67 of Florida’s counties. 

The fact that Satcher’s former colleagues on the county commission approved the request without requiring a detailed explanation lends credence to the concern that Satcher’s instillation as SOE was purely political. The very first action he took as SOE—hiring a county commission ally’s spouse with a very troubled past and no relevant qualifications—compounded that concern immensely.

Thankfully, Manatee County Republicans overwhelmingly chose Farrington in the August primary. It is all but a foregone conclusion that Farrington will be elected to the seat. Nevertheless, we recommend voters check the block for him on the November ballot.