Florida 2014 Elections Endorsements from the Seminole Democrat

Go and bookmark this page on your mobile phone. Then go vote. NOW!

In Florida, early voting started Monday, October 20. The best place to find your early voting locations and/or the polling place on Nov. 4 is your LOCAL County's Supervisor of Elections website (click here). The best way would be to put all the information in one location but our Secretary of State under Rick Scott isn't much into helping you vote. (You can see what his focus is on the main elections website with voting fraud getting the bold treatment. After all, we've had 0 incidents of in-person voter fraud.)

The state races I give. For local races I can only do Seminole County. If somebody clues me in to an important local race or candidate, (see "contact us" button at top or use comments below), of course I'll research and include that. Special thanks to Howard Mass.

Remember, this is a progressive state blog that is in no way affiliated with the Seminole Co. Democratic Party. I even disagree with both of their Congressional choices (especially FL-7).

For races that are particularly important to me, I explain my rationale in the link with their name:

Governor/LT. Governor: CHARLIE CRIST (D)

U.S. Congress: In every district that has a Democrat, VOTE DEMOCRAT with three exceptions:

U.S. Congress District 7: Al Krulick (NPA) (not Republican John Mica or Democrat Wes Neuman)

U.S. Congress District 5: Glo Smith (R) (not Democrat Corrine Brown)

U.S. Congress District 53: Dean Kearns (NPA) (not Republican John Tobias or Democrat Santa Isabel Wright)

U.S. State Legislature and State Senate: VOTE the DEMOCRAT in every election. If there is no Democrat, vote NPA or third party (even Libertarian).

Attorney General: George Sheldon (D) (NOT PamBo)

Commissioner of Agriculture: Thad Hamilton (D)

Chief Financial Officer: Will Rankin (D)

Florida Constitutional Amendments:
Amendment 1: Conservation: Yes
Amendment 2: Medical Marijuana: Yes
Amendment 3: Lame Duck Governor Picks Judges: HELLS NO!

Court of Appeals Judges (Designated by YES or NO):
A word on District Court of Appeals Judges

FOR SEMINOLE COUNTY:

• House District 29: Mike Clelland (D)
• House District 30: Karen Castor Dentel (D)
• House District 28: Franklin Perez (LPF) (not Republican Jason Brodeur)
• Senate District 10: Walter Osborne (NPA)
• School Board District 1: Rich Sloane
• Circuit Judge Group 13: George Paulk
• Circuit Judge Group 19: Mitch Krause
• Circuit Judge Group 23: Nancy Maloney

Seminole Democrat's Election Endorsements 2009

Longwood Commissioner District 1: Bob Cortez. He's the challenger, and Holt hasn't done much.

Longwood Commissioner District 5: No endorsement.

Oviedo Mayor: Mary Lou Andrews. Darryl Lopez is a right-wing libertarian. We need less of those in Central Florida.

Oviedo Councilman Group 1: Judith Smith. She is the only African-American in any of the races this year. We need more of those in Central Florida--especially Oviedo.

Not to mention, if elected, she would be the first African-American to be elected in Oviedo's 84 year history.

Remember to vote tomorrow...Nov. 3rd.

The Seminole Democrat Endorsements!

President/Vice President: Barack Obama and Joe Biden

Congressional District 7: Faye Armitage
Congressional District 24: Suzanne Kosmas

State Senate District 9: Darius Davis
State Senate District 24: Kendall Moore

State Representative District 33: Robert Acosta

Seminole Soil & Water Board: Steve Barnes

Seminole School Board: Barry Gainer


Amendments:
Vote YES on Amendment 1 and Amendment 6.

Amendment 1 states immigrants can't own land--it was put on the books almost a century ago and is completely ignored anyway, but it can't be removed without another amendment. This would remove pure prejudice in the state constitution. Vote YES on this.

Amendment 6 allows marina owners to have their property assessed based on what they actually are, not at the optimum rate they could be if they were condos. The reason I am for this is that it helps slow development of box condos on our shorelines. The developers love that marinas are being taxed so high because a lot of them are going under--which means the land developers can swoop in and plant yet another unnecessary condo. Just what we need. Vote YES on this.

All the other amendments range from being misguided, not worth the investment, or outright wrong. Vote NO.

I encourage you to do your own research on the amendments. The Sentinel breaks down the pros and cons of each: Click Here

I do not make endorsements for individual cities within Seminole. I STRONGLY urge you to visit the Seminole County Elections Supervisor Site: http://www.semcoelections.org/

This site will tell you who is running, link to their websites, give you a sample ballot, tell you where to vote early, what you need, etc. etc. etc.

Be an informed voter. The local elections have a big impact on your life, but normally people don't even bother to see who's running. Don't make that mistake.

Happy Voting!