A Manatee County Commission race has ended, days after the primary, but now some questions remain as to whether it was fair.
On Thursday night, elections officials recounted the votes and determined that challenger Charles B. Smith edged out incumbent Michael Gallen by just four votes.
Now some are crying foul, saying some of the votes came from wrong addresses and shouldn’t count.
Some also are upset about not getting to vote in that election. No Republicans got a say in the outcome of the District 2 County Commission race.
For the primary election, only three Democrats officially signed up to run: Gallen, Smith and Corie Holmes.
In the end, it was a close race. Smith collected 1,029 votes; Gallen 1,025; and Holmes had 884 votes. Smith won, collecting just four more votes over Gallen.
None of the votes came from Republicans.
In a primary race in Florida, if candidates are only from one party, the race is generally open to Democrats and Republicans to vote.
But not this time. That’s because there was a write-in candidate, Troy Thomas.
“If there is a write-in, and you can go out and recruit your brother to be the write-in or your friend or whoever, but you get a write-in, and that closes the primary,” said Michael Bennett, Manatee County Supervisor of Elections. “So in that particular primary only the Democrats were able to vote. If it was a Republican primary and they had a write in, only the Republicans would be able to vote.”
While some may not be happy with the write-in, it isn’t against the law.
Corie Holmes is one of those who is not happy. While he knows he can’t do anything about the write-in, he said he is upset about other matters.
Holmes has filed a complaint at the state level for investigation. He feels residents used improper address to cast their ballots for Smith.
It will be up to the state to decide if that was the case.
As for Smith, his race to win the District 2 County Commission seat is still not over. Smith will now face the write-in candidate in the November general election.