Otter Creek Canvassing Board Tosses Out Ballots of Unregistered Voters

By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter

Two provisional ballots that were cast by unregistered voters in the Otter Creek town election were rejected by the Canvassing Board Thursday and weren’t counted as part of the vote total.

The ballots didn’t change the outcome of the election because the provisional ballots were held for the Canvassing Board to review to decide if they could be counted.

Winners of the election were Gail Lamb with 44 votes, and Therese Granger, Russell S. Meeks, Sr. and Zim Padgett, all with 34 votes.

Provisional ballots are created when there is a question about whether the voter was eligible to cast a ballot. Many times, the signature is in question, or their registration is in doubt.

In this election, one ballot had a questionable signature in the view of the Canvassing Board and the same voter wasn’t properly registered to vote. In the second voter case, a statewide review of voter records found no voter registration for the person.

The main issue now, which was not a Canvassing Board question, centers on the fact that three of the candidates are tied with 34 votes. One of those candidates will serve a year, and the others two years.

There were four vacancies on the board, one that occurred due to a council member leaving in mid-term. Council members serve two-year terms. In cities where council members or commissioners run for a particular seat, there would be no question of who would serve a one-year term.

In Otter Creek, candidates don’t run for a particular seat. They run at-large. With three candidates tied at 34 votes, one of the three will get a one-year term. The question is who.

The charter apparently doesn’t spell out who would get the one-year term. There’s never been a three-way tie. The council members will have to discuss it among themselves when they take office on April 11.

If it comes down to an interpretation of the charter, the council may have to consult with City Attorney Steven Warm, but ultimately the decision must be made by the council.

Prior to the start of the Canvassing Board meeting, members of the audience tossed out questions to Levy County Supervisor of Elections Tammy Jones who had been called by board chairwoman Tammy Boyle to find out if she was willing to take questions. Jones is not part of the Canvassing Board. She agreed to take questions.

One or more of the questions concerned residency. Who can legally vote in an election? Can people in RV parks vote? The answer is that residents in RV parks can vote, but they must swear under oath that they are a resident of the municipality where they intend to vote. Jones said state law is vague on how to define residency.

“The law is not clear. I wish there was a lot more in-depth explanation of what residency is. It’s very broad. It seems to be the topic of every municipal election. Are these people truly living there? It’s not just Otter Creek, it’s all over Levy County, it’s all over Florida, it’s probably all over the United States,” Jones said.

Shady Oaks Campground in Otter Creek is an RV park. Twenty-four registered voters in Otter Creek list their address as the campground. In the election, the turnout was unusually high. A total of 71 people voted, four by mail-in ballot, and the rest in-person. Locals say most elections draw 50-55 voters. Some in the community believe residents of the RV park turned out for the election in big numbers. But there were also nine candidates on the ballot and voting was spread out among the nine.

Jones said there is no nationwide database of registered voters that would allow election officials to determine if someone was registered to vote in more than one state. She said Secretary of State Cord Byrd withdrew Florida from a 30-state voter registration program known as ERIC (Electronic Registration Information Center this year.

When Florida was a member of ERIC, the state could crosscheck voter registrations to identify illegal voting, duplicate registrations, or outdated records from voters who have moved or passed away, leading to a cleaner .and more accurate voting system among the 30 member states. Gov. Ron DeSantis initially made Florida a part of ERIC in 2019, but he was also the governor who appointed Secretary of State Cord Byrd, the man who withdrew the state from the program. It’s not clear why DeSantis and Byrd removed Florida from the voter registration sharing program. Florida, Missouri, and West Virginia pulled out of ERIC in 2023.

Otter Creek Canvassing Board members Michele Langford, Levy County Tax Collector, Chairwoman Tammy Boyle, Levy County School Board member, and Mary DeGroot, Otter Creek town clerk, discuss provisional ballots.

Shady Oaks Campground, a quiet little RV park in Otter Creek, wasn't discussed at the Canvassing Board, but voter residency was a topic of discussion along with the question of whether RV residents can vote in elections. — Shady Oaks Campground, a quiet little RV park in Otter Creek, wasn’t discussed at the Canvassing Board, but voter residency was a topic of discussion along with the question of whether RV residents can vote in elections.

Zim Padgett, one of the election winners, told Canvassing Board members that confirming a voter's registration should be the main focus of a Canvassing Board, not interpreting signatures. The Canvassing Board has the right to do both, depending on whether the signature is an issue. — Zim Padgett, one of the election winners, told Canvassing Board members that confirming a voter’s registration should be the main focus of a Canvassing Board, not interpreting signatures. The Canvassing Board has the right to do both, depending on whether the signature is an issue.

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Enterprise Reporting by Terry Witt April 6, 2023; Posted April 6, 2023

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