There are more than 400 newly registered Republican voters in Sumter County after a pair of write-in candidates last week shook up an already contentious commission race.
Village of Bonita resident Gilbert Windsor on Friday went online and changed his voter registration from Democrat to Republican.
He is one of 408 voters who have signed up as Republicans in the past week since the write-in candidacies of Villagers Jerry Prince and Pete Wahl were revealed.
Windsor, who in 1974 served as Maryland’s secretary of the Democratic Party under Gov. Harry Hughes, said he changed his registration for one reason – to defeat Sumter County Commission incumbents Don Burgess, Al Butler and Steve Printz.
Wahl, a former top Villages government official, and Prince, head of The Villages Republican Club, tossed their names into the hat in a less-than-subtle attempt to limit those who can vote in the District 3 and District 5 commission races. This loophole in Florida election law cut out 45,000 Democratic and No Party Affiliation voters who would have had a hand in determining the outcome of those two county commission races.
Voter outrage was ignited this past September when the incumbent commissioners turned a deaf ear to residents who complained at two packed public hearings at Savannah Center about a proposed 25 percent tax increase.
That anger and frustration launched the candidacies of Craig Estep, who is taking on Burgess; Gary Search, who is opposing Butler; and Oren Miller and Daniel Myslakowski, who are running against Printz. All are running as Republicans.
Villager Larry Green is running as an NPA candidate in the Butler-Search race, so it was already limited to GOP voters. The winner of the Aug. 18 primary will face Green.
Sumter County residents have until July 20 to register or change their registration to participate in the Republican Primary on Aug. 18. You can do so at this link: https://registertovoteflorida.gov/home