The voter turnout for last week’s primary election was 17.25% in Osceola County; that’s fourth-lowest among Florida’s 67 counties. A total of 38,610 ballots were cast through the mail, inperson in early voting and on Election Day out of 223,760 registered county voters (in a county of 437,784 residents as of 2023 numbers). The statewide turnout was 22.35%, according to Florida Division of Elections figures and News Service of Florida data.
To be fair, the counties with the highest percentages of 44-58 were the Panhandle counties with far less population, and counties like Osceola with low percentages like Pasco (15.87%), Orange (17%), Polk (12.21%), Broward (17.51%) and Seminole (17.65%) all have larger populations than Osceola.
Osceola County’s percentage of No Party Affiliation (NPA) and third-party votes, about 30%, was in the top three in the state at the time of the March presidential primary.
“It won’t be like this in November, we’ll have 70, 80 percent,” Supervisor of Elections Mary Jane Arrington said. “And we’ll be prepared for them to come out.”
Over half (20,865) of the Osceola votes were cast by mail, with nearly the same number cast in early voting (8,896) as on Aug. 20 election day (8,833).
The voter turnout disappointed even some of the candidates, including one who learned his fate Friday. John Cortes finished just four votes ahead (1,224 to 1,220) of Olga Carino in second place behind Jackie Espinosa (1,446) in the Kissimmee mayor’s race. Because of the narrow margin, an SOE recount was called, and after mail-in ballots with reviewed signatures, a machine recount and a review of ballots that overcounted (more than one candidate selected) or undercounted (no candidate selected), Cortes’ confirmed margin over Carino was six votes, and he’ll go on to the November general election.
But he was dismayed that over 200 ballots were blank—in most of those cases the Kissimmee races were on the back of the ballot, and voters simply did not flip it over and vote some or all of those races.
“I’m disappointed, because we had such low turnout already,” Cortes said. “We have to make sure to tell voters in the future to check if they have to vote the back page. This is very sad, I feel sorry for Ms. Carino.”
Those 17.25% of the voters chose, in some cases, what candidates would move on to the Nov. 5 general election— where winners win the races. While those ballots did not have partisan races on them, they still contained non-partistan City Commission/Council, School Board and judge candidates to vote for.
After the primaries, here are how the matchups Osceola voters will cast ballots for in the Nov. 5 general election stack up. To vote in the general election, you must be registered by Oct. 7. Early voting will be from Oct. 21 to Nov. 3.
(I-incumbent candidate; if partisan, R-Republican, D-Democrat unless noted) County Commission: District 1—(I) Peggy Choudhry (D), Disvany Martinez (R); District 3—(I) Brandon Arrington (D), FlorD’Aliza Frias (R), Eric Montgomery (Libertarian).
School Board: District 5— Paula Bronson, Scott Ramsey.
Kissimmee City Commission: Seat 1—Noel Ortiz, Lisandra Roman; Seat 3— (I) Carlos Alvarez III, Nichole Wagoner de Arguello; Seat 5 (Mayor)—John Cortes, Jackie Espinosa.
St. Cloud City Council: Seat 1 (Mayor)—Tony Busby, Chris Robertson; Seat 2—Jennifer Paul, Mandy Shafer.
Constitutional: Clerk of Court: Jossue Lorenzo (R), (I) Kelvin Soto (D); Sheriff—(I) Marcos Lopez (D), Donnie Martinez (R); Tax Collector— Rafael Martinez (R), (I) Bruce Vickers (D); Property Appraiser— (I) Katrina Scarborough (D), Geny Shunnar (R); Supervisor of Elections—(I) Mary Jane Arrington (D), Jim Trautz (R).
Florida Legislature: State Senate District 25—Kristen Arrington (D), Jose Martinez (R); State House District 35—Erika Booth (R), (I) Tom Keen (D); District 45—(I) Carolina Amesty (R), Leonard Spencer (D); District 46—Jose Alvarez (D), Michael Cruz (R), Dr. Ivan Rivera (NPA); District 47—Maria Revelles (D), (I) Paula Stark (R).
Congress: U.S. House of Representatives—Marcus Carter (NPA), Thomas Chalifoux (R), (I) Darren Soto (D); U.S. Senator—Feena Bonoan (Libertarian), Ben Everidge (NPA), Debbi Mucarsel-Powell (D), (I) Rick Scott (R).
Voters will also vote on state amendments regarding making School Board elections partisan races, the constitutional right to hunt and fish, marijuana legalization, abortion as a constitutional right, adjusting homestead exemptions for inflation and public campaign financing.
“We have to make sure to tell voters in the future to check if they have to vote the back page.”
JOHN CORTES Candidate for Kissimmee Mayor
