Alachua County sees high turnout for local elections

Alachua County residents had their say in Tuesday’s primary election, with 41,357 people — about a 25-percent turnout — voting for candidates in local elections and general primaries.

The general election is now just under three months away, on Nov. 8.

In arguably the biggest race of the night across the state, former U.S. presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio won the Republican nomination for Senate candidacy, walking away with 80.78 percent of the vote. Rep. Patrick Murphy won the Democratic nomination for Senate, winning with 45.17 percent of the vote. The two will face off on Election Day in November.

Locally, current Alachua County Sheriff Sadie Darnell defeated Zac Zedalis, a former UF football player and ACSO deputy in the Democratic primary, sweeping in 71.85 percent of the vote. She will now face Jack Jacobs in the general election.

Supervisor of Elections Pam Carpenter said voter turnout was up from the usual 20 percent.

“I think there’s an increased interest in this election,” she said. “I think you’ll also see that in November.”

Five precincts had issues sending votes via modem and telephone line to the Alachua County Supervisor of Elections office, despite checking to make sure the telephone lines at polling precincts worked earlier in the day.

One precinct in High Springs and one in Alachua had to bring ballots into the Supervisor of Elections office to be directly fed into the system, Carpenter said. Another precinct had to have its telephone line repaired after a hedgecutter mowed over it.

Despite the wait for results, more than 100 supporters gathered at First Magnitude Brewing Company. Cheers of victory rang out for two county commissioners.

Mike Byerly and Robert “Hutch” Hutchinson won re-election for Districts 1 and 3, respectively.

The Democratic commissioners, who both share a progressive constituency, held a joint watch party at the brewery.

Byerly, who will now begin his fifth term as commissioner for District 1, looked concerned all evening, eventually winning over Kevin Thorpe.

Byerly prepared two speeches just in case, he said.

Both he and Hutchinson thanked their families, staff members and supporters.

Hutchinson said he wasn’t surprised by the outpour of support. He said although national politics seem to take priority over local issues, it is the local elections that affect the day-to-day lives of voters.

Gainesville resident Ewen Thomson joined Byerly and Hutchinson at the watch party at the brewery.

The 66-year-old emigrated from New Zealand and became a U.S. citizen three weeks ago. He cast his first vote in a U.S. election Tuesday night.

He said being able to participate was a milestone for him.

“I’ve been an active member of the community for over 30 years now,” he said. “It’s good to be able to vote for the first time.”

Dillon Boatner, a poll worker at the Reitz Union, said while the turnout was lower than in the March primary, more people came than in the previous two fall primary elections. Almost an hour before polls closed, about 70 people had voted, compared to 32 people in 2012 and 34 people in 2008, he said.  

“Somehow they doubled,” the 19-year-old political science sophomore said. “I’m not sure what inclined more people to come out.”

Boatner said the biggest issues with turnout at the on-campus location came down to people forgetting to update their registrations after moving from their hometowns or moving off campus.

He said the university could push for a higher turnout from students.

“A lot more can be done to promote elections and promote voter registration, especially from the university’s end,” Boatner said.