No votes for Williams would count, Supervisor of Elections Office staffer explains
In June, the daughter of the campaign manager of District 1 County Commission candidate Teresa Mast of Sarasota filed as a write-in candidate in that race, as The Sarasota News Leader reported. Thanks to a stipulation in state law, that action closed the Aug. 20 Primary Election to the general public.
As both Mast and her Primary challenger, Alexandra Coe of Sarasota, both are Republicans, only Republican voters living in District 1 could cast ballots in that race in August.
In a June 12 news release, Daniel Kuether, chair of the Sarasota County Democratic Party, was the person who identified Hope Williams as the 20-year-old daughter of Traci Williams. On May 15, Traci Williams posted on her public Facebook page that she is the campaign manager for Mast, who filed in January 2023 for the District 1 seat that Commissioner Michael Moran is having to vacate this month because of term limits.
Kuether further noted, “Several years ago, the Florida Times-Union labeled [such write-in challengers] the Mickey Mouse candidates: individuals who abuse Florida’s ‘write-in loophole.’ ”
He added, “[Williams] entered the race as a Mickey Mouse candidate so that she could disenfranchise tens of thousands of Democratic and independent voters and ensure Mast and the land developers win.”
Mast, who worked for years for Sarasota County Government, owns her own business. Her husband, Jon, is the CEO of the Suncoast Builders Association, which formerly was called the Manatee-Sarasota Building Industry Association.
As Kuether decried the closing of the Primary election to voters regardless of their party affiliation, or lack thereof, he also pointed out, “Historically, such write-in candidates drop out ahead of the General Election.”
That has proven to be the case with Williams, the News Leader learned this week.
Paul Donnelly, director of communications and voter outreach for the Sarasota County Supervisor of Elections Office, told the News Leader in an Oct. 28 email that although Williams did withdraw, she did not do so “before our ballots went to print, so there is still a write-in line for the [County Commission] District 1 race.”
Donnelly added, however, “As a write-in candidate, [Williams] was never eligible to have her name on the ballot, only a write-in line …”
Moreover, he continued, “If she receives any votes, they will not count because she has withdrawn from the race.
“Furthermore,” Donnelly explained, “when a candidate withdraws after the ballots have been printed, we are required to inform voters from that point forward. Following her withdrawal, a notice was placed in all outgoing [vote-by-mail] ballots that the write-in candidate for [County Commission] District 1 had withdrawn. The same notice has been/will be placed in all voting booths in the county.”
In reviewing her financial reports filed with the Supervisor of Elections Office, the News Leader found that Williams never raised any money after she entered the race. The final campaign finance document that she filed covered the period of Oct. 19 through Oct. 31.
Conversely, Mast had raised $255,907.92 in cash and checks through Oct. 18, her records showed. Through the same period, she had spent $223,159.44.