Republicans lead early voting in Winter Park and across Orange
How will the GOP’s presidential primary impact municipal elections?
March 13, 2024
By Beth Kassab
Republicans are turning out by a big margin in Orange County ahead of next week’s GOP presidential primary, which is also regular spring elections for Winter Park and other local cities such as Eatonville and Maitland.
Of all the county’s early voting sites, the Winter Park Library has seen the highest number of votes cast so far with 1,339, according to the Orange County Supervisor of Elections. Of those, nearly 60% or 774 are from registered Republicans. About 30%, or 395, are from Democrats. Another 160 votes are from people registered without a party affiliation.
Anyone can vote at the early voting sites, which means some of the votes cast at the library could have been from voters who live outside Winter Park. But it’s the best early indicator of how voting stands so far.
In Winter Park there are about 22,000 active registered voters. They are close to evenly split among Republicans and Democrats with Republicans leading slightly with 8,300 versus 7,700 Democrats.
Yet Republicans are driving early voting by nearly 2 to 1.
County wide, Republicans are driving early votes by an even wider margin with more than 23,000 ballots so far compared to 4,000 from Democrats.
Winter Park’s election for mayor and Seat 2 commissioner are technically non-partisan, but party politics often plays a role.
The Republican women’s club in Winter Park, for example, held an event for Seat 2 candidate Stockton Reeves, who has also run as a Republican (and lost) for a Florida House seat.
Past elections, though, have shown Winter Parkers to be discerning when it comes to local politics. Issues like development rules, brick streets, lake quality and parks rarely appear to fall along strict party lines.
In other words, it’s not clear that Donald Trump’s name on the ballot will drive turnout for a single candidate among Republican voters in the municipal races. Democrats decided last year to scrap their presidential primary in Florida in an effort to aid President Joe Biden.
Jason Johnson and Craig Russell, who are also running for Seat 2, appear to have refrained from party rhetoric in their campaigns.
The key differences between Johnson and Russell come in the form of their responses on development questions. For instance, Russell, who is backed by the Winter Park Chamber of Commerce has said he is open to revisiting the original Orange Avenue Overlay, which allows for taller buildings and more dense development, and is also open to lessening the requirements for developers to build parking spaces. Johnson has said he would not return to the old zoning rules and does not want to see major changes in the parking code.
Early precinct data from the nine precincts with Winter Park addresses shows 2,685 returned mail ballots and early votes so far, according to the supervisor’s office. A party breakdown for that data isn’t available.
The most votes so far are associated with the precinct at the Winter Park YMCA, which has 538 returned mail votes and 159 early votes. That’s followed by the Winter Park 9th Grade Center, which totals 255 returned mail votes and 107 early votes and Orange Technical College with 212 returned mail votes and 98 early votes.
Early voting runs through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day. Click here for locations.
Polls open on Election Day (March 19) at 7 a.m. and close at 7 p.m. Voters can find their precincts here.
WinterParkVoiceEditor@gmail.com
Donald Trump may be the clear Republican nominee for president, but the question
Beth, your analysis helps us get closer to the mind of WInter Parkers. Stockton would be a Republican favorite, but he doesn’t appear to have inserted himself into the development debate and most are not concerned about number of ambulances. I see the scale of development for residential and businesses as well as reducing the parking and traffic problems as the major voting drivers. That is why I think Jason has the advantage. And regarding parking, removing the current codes will make things much worse-just ask yourself, do you trust The Predictor or the Chamber of Commerce!
Wow! I’ll bet you $100 Beth is a registered Democrat. In 35 years of Winter Park politics I have never seen anyone publish or be concerned about how many Republicans or Democrats are voting, This is a GOTV (get out the vote) email to Democrats to go to the polls and support their team player, Jason Johnson.
So much for non-partisan elections, hey!
Ok Peter, explain the Chamber of Commerce PAC to us!
Explaining the Chamber of Commerce PAC:
The First Amendment of our Constitution:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Among other things, this means that everyone, acting alone or together, had the absolute right to promote their point of views on any issue. The PAC aggregates funds to speak about their point of view.
Note that The Winter Park voice aggregates money to speak here.
Questions?
Peter, I am asking you what are the specific goals of the Chamber PAC for Winter Park policy and how does it relate to the candidate they are generously supporting in terms of the candidates policies. Help me understand this complex relationship. Please no more hopping away from the question Peter.
That is for you to figure out as a voter.
“Among other things, this means that everyone, acting alone or together, had the absolute right to promote their point of views on any issue. The PAC aggregates funds to speak about their point of view.“
This includes The Winter Park Voice, no?
There is a difference. The WPV is not a PAC, and it doesn’t benefit from taxpayers’ money by having a city building on city property basically donated to them. It also houses the Welcome Center, and it is not welcoming to get into supporting a politician-it just leads to more division. I don’t feel welcome in the Welcome Center. Thank you, Your Welcome.
Excuuuuse me, Mr. Weldon. This, this is a trusted nonprofit journalism site. It covers our City Hall and beyond. It endeavors to engage, inform and connect citizens on all sides of issues affecting the quality of life in Winter Park….. as long as the side aligned with the detailed plans of Steve Goldman, Sally Flynn, former Mayor Strong and the Andersons wins.
With a basic understanding of how the Internet works, it’s not difficult to confirm that Ms. Kassab is a registered NPA in Seminole County, you blowhard. Go ahead and leave a fresh $100 bill in your mailbox. I’ll swing by and pick it up sometime soon.
I apologize to Beth and welcome the opportunity to meet with her, at which time I will give her $100, which she can dedicate the support the Winter Park Voice if she chooses.
At our meeting I will ask her why she prohibits some Winter Park residents from viewing and commenting on the Winter Park Voice Facebook page.
It is no surprise that Republicans are way out voting Democrats as there is a Republican primary!!!
Right, of course, Sally.
The Democratic party is not holding a presidential primary.
But as The Voice said, the local issues that are important to Winter Parkers usually transcend party politics. We must try to keep it that way.
Party politics should NOT play a role in the election of nonpartisan positions. We have enough dichotomous thinking creating unprecedented divisiveness in our country. Let us together work on participating in the solution rather than perpetuating the problem.
Since all of the voter turnout data Beth Kassab has provided is available from the website of the Orange County Supervisor of Elections, it is difficult to see how she can justly be accused of anything, unless that thing is reporting facts to the reading public. As noted by The Predictor nearby, Winter Park voters are largely prone to vote for the candidate who shares not their political affiliation, but their vision for future development and for what drives quality of life in the city.
Wow, a lot of complicated issues here, but;
1 candidate wants to hold the line on density, height, and parking requirements.
1 candidate wants to revisit past mistakes that would increase the density, height, and lower parking requirements for new buildings.
1 candidate wants to add 1 ambulance to the 2 we now have which I believe is about to happen already.
You choose.