BY TRACY LEE TATE
Special to the Times
The City of Lake Butler Election, originally scheduled to take place on June 25 has been canceled for lack of need. Two seats on the Lake Butler City Commission were coming open for election/retention and only one candidate registered and qualified for each seat. Incumbent Rondoll Huggins will retain Seat Two on the board, beginning his first full term in office (Huggins was elected in a special election, called to fill the seat mid-term due to the resignation of then-mayor Jack Schenck.) Joe Stephenson was the only candidate to qualify for Seat One and, as such, will automatically take the seat at the end of the term of incumbent Mayor David Stegall, who did not choose to run for re-election. Both will Huggins and Stephenson will be sworn in on June 26 Lake Butler City Hall at a time to be announced later.
The Nov. 5 General Election for county races may have a much smaller ballot than was originally expected. There are three seats on the Union County Commission available, as well as the county’s constitutional officers. So far many are running unopposed and the ones with competition are running against members of their own party. The two school board seats, whose candidates run as nonpartisan with any party, have two seats open, with a single candidate each at this time.
Seats coming open for election/retention on the Union County Board of Commissioners are: Seat 1, currently held by Donna Jackson; Seat Three, open due to the retirement of long-time commissioner Jimmy Tallman and Seat Five, currently held by incumbent Willie Croft. Jackson will be running for her first full term (she was appointed by Governor Ron Desantis earlier this year to finish the term after the resignation of Ryan Perez). Croft is a long-time commissioner. Both Jackson and Croft are running unopposed at this time.
The District Three seat on the Board of Commissioners has six candidates already filed. So far, all are running as Republicans, so the winner will be determined in the Primary. The candidates currently registered are: Chad Ali, Shelton Arnold, Melissa McNeal, Ed Rainey, Daniel Tomlinson and Martie Touchstone.
The same is true for the constitutional officers. At present, incumbent Clerk of Court and Comptroller Kellie Hendricks Rhoades is the only constitutional officer opposed in the upcoming election, by Ryan Perez. Both candidates are Republicans, so if nothing changes and no candidate(s) from another party or parties qualify to run, the winner of that race will be decided in the primary. Only if the additional candidates, if any, are from other parties, the resolution will have to wait until November. Other registered candidate for the county Constitutional Office (all incumbents): Property Appraiser Bruce Dukes, Sheriff Brad Whitehead, Superintendent of Schools Mike Ripplinger, Supervisor of Elections Deborah Osborne and Tax Collector Lisa Johnson.
Two seats on the Union County School Board are up for election/retention this year, currently with only the incumbents registered to run. If no opposition registers to run against them before the end of qualifying they will keep their seats.
In all of the county races, registered candidates qualifying by the petition method must turn in their required signatures by 12 noon on May 13, 2024. Candidates qualifying to run by paying a percentage of the salary of the position they are seeking must file between noon on Monday, June 10 and noon on Friday, June 14, 2024. For those filing by petition the number required are: constitutional officers – 77; County Commission District 1 – 12; County Commission District 3 – 20; County Commission District 5 – 9. School Board District 2 – 12 and School Board District 4 – 24.
As things stand as of press time, it appears that the Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024 General Election could include only state and national races, including the one for president, but there is still a little more than a month before a candidate must qualify and Supervisor of Elections Debbie Osborne said that inquiries are still being made at the elections office about running for office.
“My staff and I are undated on election laws and regulations, fully trained and ready to assist county residents in exercising their constitution right to select their leaders,” Osborne said. “Anyone with any questions about the election process in our county is more than welcome to call or come by the Elections Office for information.”
The Union County Superintendent of Elections office is located at 175 W. Main St. in Lake Butler. The phone number is (386) 496-2236. Online, up tp date election information may be found at www.unionflvotes.com.
