Manatee Supervisor of Elections race pits DeSantis appointee against longtime staffer

The recently appointed Manatee County Supervisor of Elections will go head-to-head with a longtime election staffer to determine who will hold the seat for the next four years.

James Satcher, who previously served as Manatee County commissioner, is running against Scott Farrington, who resigned from the elections office earlier this year to pursue the seat in Tuesday’s primary election.

In April, Gov. Ron DeSantis chose Satcher to fill the seat that became vacant when former Supervisor of Elections Mike Bennett announced his resignation. DeSantis appointed Satcher, who was in the middle of a campaign to win a second term as the District 1 representative on the Manatee County Commission, despite Bennett’s recommendation to the governor that Farrington fill the position.

Satcher, who also served as a county commissioner, has already drawn criticism for requesting a $841,340 budget increase and for not holding an election for a school board seat.

Farrington, who former elections supervisor Mike Bennett recommended for the job, resigned as deputy chief of staff the day Gov. Ron DeSantis picked Satcher to lead the office.

Who is James Satcher?

Satcher told the Bradenton Herald he wants to stay on the job to make sure every vote counts. He said the office bought new election equipment, improved security measures and secured additional early voting locations.

“I don’t see anything more important than securing the vote and making sure that people’s voices are heard,” Satcher said.

Satcher added that he wants to make it clear that it is a felony for someone who is not a U.S. citizen to cast an election ballot.

“If an American’s vote is important, then we can’t let those votes be canceled out by others,” he said. “That’s the law of the land. It’s not something that we should shy away from. It’s something that we should let people know.”

In Manatee County, voter fraud is rare. In the most recently highly publicized case, the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office arrested a man who requested a vote-by-mail ballot for his dead wife in 2020 because he wanted to “test the system,” deputies said.

According to court records, the man was sentenced to 100 hours of community service and two years of probation.

Who is Scott Farrington?

Farrington argued that he has a strong track record of accurate, fair and secure elections after working as an elections official in Manatee and Sarasota counties for 21 years. Before he resigned, he served as the Supervisor of Elections Office’s deputy chief of staff.

“I believe in the importance of having elections that voters trust,” Farrington said. “I believe that the office needs to be maintained as a nonpartisan and neutral environment. And I believe that I have all of the experience, education and certifications that are required to do that. That leads me to think that I am the best candidate for the position.”

Farrington said he plans to run the office under a taxpayer-conscious budget.

“I believe that the office has always been conducted transparently and inside of a budget that allowed for all of the necessities that we needed, but did not waste money,” he said. “I want to continue with a fiscally responsible office that also provides complete transparency to the community and to the voters.”

The primary election winner will become Manatee County’s supervisor of elections for the next four years. According to Florida law, only registered Republicans can vote in this race because Thomas Dell, a write-in candidate who has not raised any campaign finance funds, is also running.

This story was originally published August 19, 2024 at 5:50 AM.