In Sumter County, an estimated 824 Democrats and Others have changed their registered-party affiliation so that they could vote against the current county commissioners (Butler, Burgess, and Printz) by voting for the EMS team of Republicans Estep, Miller, and Search. The “Others” is defined by our election officials as those registered as No-Party-Affiliation, independents and minor parties.
The Republican Party hierarchy in Sumter County has been pushing the re-election of the current commissioners via large campaign contributions and a dirty trick. See more information, including how to easily change your party affiliation, at www.FG4S.org/vote. You only have until July 20 to change your affiliation for the August Republican Primary.
The estimate of 824 is, as of July 4, based on numbers posted on the webpage of SumterElections.org. The June 2, 2020 numbers are used as a baseline; the estimated number of Democrats switching is 499; the others is 325. The total number switching is increasing daily.
Per SumterElections.org, on July 4, the total political contributions to the three incumbents are $210,542; whereas, the total for the EMS team is $8,727.
Those who look at, the Developer-owned The Villages Daily Sun know that major amounts of money are being spent on advertising for the three incumbents. These ads avoid reminding the voter of the infamous 25 percent tax increase.
John Kastura is a resident of the Village of Belvedere.