Shirley Anderson, Hernando County’s Supervisor of Elections, provided the Brooksville City Council with three copies of the certified results from the 11/08/16 election. There were 5,094 registered voters in the City of Brooksville (District 4) this year, and the election saw 71% (3,616 individuals) cast a ballot.
Anderson said that more than half of the ballots were mailed in, and 1,169 appeared in person at the Jerome Brown center to vote. County-wide, Anderson said participation was as high as 73%. Mayor Natalie Kahler congratulated Anderson on the ease of the voting process.
The Junior Service League helped Anderson’s office there. For other organizations that would be willing to “adopt a precinct” and supply poll workers, Anderson said her office will pay that organization for the employees’ time. “More than $22,500 has been given back to the community,” Anderson said.
Joe Bernardini ran against Frankie Burnett for a seat on the council. According to the records provided by Anderson, Bernardini received 60.43% (1,979) of the votes to Burnett’s 39.57% (1,296). William Kemmerer ran unopposed. The term for both Bernardini and Kemmerer will run from 12/05/16 to the first council meeting in December 2020.
Anderson said that for the general election, her office “was shocked” at the number of individuals in the county who decided to change their part affiliation, and how many registrations they received prior to the election.
For the next election in 2018, Anderson would like to have notice of items on the ballot (what she called ballot language) or any annexations a minimum of 60 days before an election. The early voting/vote by mail ballots of some residents of the City of Brooksville affected by the annexations did not have the City Council election on it due to the City not notifying the SOE of the annexations. The problem was resolved by providing a supplementary ballot with only the City Council election on it to those who had already cast a ballot.