A Villager who is running as a write-in candidate in the Sumter County Commission race has promised to explain his candidacy.
Last week, Jerry Prince filed to run as a write-in candidate in the District 5 contest in which incumbent Commissioner Steve Printz is seeking re-election.
Prince’s entry into the race eliminated 45,000 voters from participating in the contest. The District 5 race also includes GOP challengers Oren Miller and Daniel Myslakowski, both Villagers.
Prince has branded as “lies” reports by Villages-News.com indicating that Prince decided to file as a write-in in order to try to tip the scale in favor of Printz, who is backed by the Developer of The Villages.
“I did file to run for County Commissioner for a reason that I will explain at our next meeting on July 9th,” Prince said in an email to the GOP faithful in The Villages.
Villages-News.com contacted Prince by phone Thursday afternoon, offering him a chance to explain his candidacy, but he hung up. He had not returned previous calls from Villages-News.com.
The day before Prince filed his write-in candidacy, Villager Pete Wahl, a former District manager in The Villages, filed to run in the District 3 contest in which incumbent Commissioner Don Burgess is being challenged by Villager Craig Estep in the Republican contest.
Both Prince and Wahl have anted up $100 to fund their campaigns, according to documents on file with the Sumter County Supervisor of Elections office. The Sumter County Republican Executive Committee has voted to financially support the three incumbent Sumter County commissioners.
The write-in candidacies have dramatically altered the Aug. 18 election by taking the balloting away from the Democratic and No Party Affiliation voters.
Florida is a closed primary election state. Only voters who are registered members of political parties may vote for respective party candidates or nominees for an office in a primary election. A person can register with a party or change his or her party affiliation at any time but in order to vote for a party candidate in an upcoming primary election, the person must register with that party or change his or her party by the registration deadline for that primary election. (You can change your party affiliation at this link https://registertovoteflorida.gov/home.)
However, there are times when all registered voters can vote in a primary election. If all the candidates for an office have the same party affiliation and the winner of the primary election will not face any opposition in the general election (i.e. no write-in candidates have qualified), then all registered voters can vote for any of the candidates for that office in the primary election, according to the Florida Division of Elections.
The commission race has been a hot ticket as a result of a 25 percent tax increase that drew huge, angry crowds this past September at Savannah Center.
The trio of Republican incumbents are backed by the Developer of The Villages and the tax increase pushed through last year was seen as a sweetheart deal for the Morse family as it pursues the expansion of Florida’s Friendliest Hometown south of State Road 44.
