By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter
The Bronson municipal election Tuesday saw two homegrown candidates win seats on the Bronson Town Council.
Bronson Middle High School teacher and Athletic Director Sherrie Schuler defeated Allen Alexander 123-112 to take the District 3 seat.
District 1 Councilman Robert Partin, who has served close to 20 years on the board, beat Mark Kjeseth 155-69 votes to retain his seat on the board.
Partin and Schuler were born, raised, and educated in Bronson.
The Bronson canvassing board will hand count the Schuler/Alexander race Friday beginning at 10 a.m. Only 11 votes separated the candidates.
Turnout for the election was relatively low, which wasn’t unexpected. Turnout is rarely high in Bronson elections. By 6:30 p.m., voters had stopped arriving at the polling place.
In machine voting at the Dogan Cobb Municipal Building, Schuler outpolled Alexander 74-73, but in mail-in voting, Schuler got 49 votes to Alexander’s 39 to give her the race.
In machine voting for District 1, Partin beat Kjeseth 98-38. In vote-by-mail (absentees) Partin won 57-31.
Schuler declined to comment after the election results were announced.
There was a bit of controversy when Schuler’s father, Franklin Schuler, the former mayor, parked an SUV next to the sidewalk leading to the polling place with his daughter’s full-color advertisement pasted on the driver’s side door in full view of arriving voters.
He was asked to leave and did so without incident. Candidates and their supporters are required by state law to remain a minimum of 150 feet from a polling place. He was closer than 150 feet and his daughter’s campaign sign was facing the sidewalk that voters used to reach the polls.
The other controversy resulted when a handful of people weren’t allowed to vote because they didn’t have an address inside the city limits. Levy County Supervisor of Elections, Tammy Jones, said four voters were given provisional ballots.
“Basically you’re not eligible to vote if you don’t have an address inside the city,” Jones said. “When you live in the country you can’t vote in city elections.”
Canvassing board member John Meeks, the county commission chairman, said the four provisional ballots will be audited Friday at 10 a.m. to find out if any of the votes can be counted. The closest race between Schuler and Alexander will be counted by hand at the Dogan Cobb Municipal Building.
Partin said he was worn out. He has been spending most of his days at medical facilities caring for his wife who fell ill some time ago.
“I’m so tired. I’m here to do the job. That’s what I’m here for,” Partin said.
Asked if he had anything he would like to accomplish in the next two years on the council, he said nothing came to mind.
“Just keep doing what we’re doing, working forward,” he said.
Mayor Beatrice Roberts recalled the day she first won public office — Sept. 11, 2001 — the day of the terror attacks on the twin towers in New York and the Pentagon.
She said her group was outside when former Clerk June Greenlee rushed out to tell them to come look at the television inside the Dogan Cobb Municipal Building.
“We didn’t care about the election at that point. I still get chills when I see those planes, but we had a job to do. What a way to go out 20 years later,” Roberts said.
Roberts said she has put in her 20 years and she will never run again, but she will be available for advice and information if anyone contacts her.
“I put my time in. if I can be of help or assistance, call me anytime. It’s not as though I’m abandoning them. I will be on this side now,” she said.
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Enterprise Reporting by Terry Witt September 14, 2021; Posted September 14, 2021
