Early voting begins August 8, which is coming up fast.
Without question, Sarasota County has a highly competent Supervisor of Elections. Ron Turner is a superb communicator, using all means available to him to help us vote, such as this editorial in the Herald Tribune.
Less clear is how County voters are supposed to know whom to vote for, given that candidates for major Board positions -- Commissioner seats for Districts 1 and 5 -- have not participated in any open public debate or forum where the voters might have a reasonable opportunity to sound them out on their positions.
District 1: Mike Hutchinson vs. Mike Moran (Winner runs against Mark Pienkos in November).
District 5: Ron Cutsinger vs. Chris Hanks (Winner runs against Alice White in November).
District 3 has no August Primary as there is just one Republican, Nancy Detert, and one Democrat, Cory Hutchinson, in the race.
Have they been invited by our local corporate media -- ABC7 Sarasota - WWSB and Herald-Tribune Media Group, The Observer Group, SNN? IF so, what have been the candidates' responses? It would help to know.
Many of us are still awaiting our first chance to make the acquaintance of these candidates. Public meetings are impossible due to the virus; Zoom meetings have limited range. Some candidates have not received adequate public exposure, others seem to be hiding from it.
If qualified candidates for powerful political office have not been invited to an open forum in advance of the Primary, well why not?
Find out more about all the Commission Candidates on our Candidates Page.
Sample Ballots are available (Sarasota News Leader)
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