By Ken Jackson
Staff Writer

Voters will decide who oversees the count of votes, among other duties, when they select Osceola County’s Supervisor of Elections Nov. 6.

Incumbent Democrat Mary Jane Arrington faces opposition from Republican challenger Peter Olivo in a race that started off quiet but gained its share of notoriety three weeks ago.

In an attempt to assess her opponent’s campaign, Arrington’s campaign assembled a poll asking voters their stance on voting for someone from the Dominican Republic (Olivo’s birthplace) and for “a disabled veteran with no major business experience.”

The questions sent local veterans and Hispanic groups scurrying to his side to express their outrage and protest on Olivo’s behalf, although he has tried to distance himself from the protests. Still, the comments served to motivated the Army veteran who served in Vietnam, where he lost both legs and a finger in battle and earned three Purple Hearts.

“The campaign had been run clean until that point. This put fire in my eyes. I have more signs out now than I did for my prior elections,” Olivo, who ran for the county commission in 2000 and 2004, said.

Arrington said she never meant to disparage veterans with the poll, calling him “a hero”, noting the questions were a polling attempt to assess Olivo’s stance on issues concerning the department.

“He had provided no concrete plan for the office,” she said.

Arrington, Osceola County’s first and only female county commissioner when she served from 1994-2002, assembled a track record over the last four years of running an efficient elections department that has embraced technology and social media.

The department’s website, www.voteosceola.com, went from getting a couple hundred hits per day to over a thousand daily even before this election cycle got into full swing. The site is completely bi-lingual, and current voting data as well as that of prior years can be accessed. During early voting and on Nov. 6, Arrington said poll workers would update wait times at voting locations via iPads and post them online.

“(Predecessor) Donna Bryant purchased a lot of the technology we’re using, she just didn’t utilize it,” Arrington said. “We embraced it.”

Arrington said during her tenure, those taking advantage of early voting has increased, even though “the Legislature has given us challenges.” She noted the addition of a sixth county early voting site at the Celebration library.

Other accomplishments she noted include increased staff training, much of it online, and offering continuing education for management staff — Arrington said by the end of 2013 all current staff will be nationally certified.

All of this happened while cutting the department’s operating budget by 34 percent and achieving clean voter rolls and perfect government audits, including one from the IRS and a perfect score from the state based on the January presidential primary.

“I feel I’ve brought a high level of professionalism to the office,” Arrington said. “My opponent has asked, ‘Who manages your office?’ I do. I have a great team working for me.

“My record makes me the best candidate. Effective leadership promotes positive change.”

She said one of her next goals is a bigger presence in the high schools, registering new voters and recruiting poll workers.

“A poll worker at 18 is a voter for life,” Arrington said.

While her emphasis is on running an efficient county department, Olivo, whose business record includes turning a Christian bookstore opened with a $2,000 loan into six stores and two recording studios, said his will be on optimizing service for voters.

He said he never planned on a return to the political arena after losing twice for the commission (by under 200 votes each time), but when Arrington’s office condensed five Buenaventura Lakes polling places into one precinct, he took action.

“It’s made it more difficult on people, some who don’t have a car, to vote,” Olivo said. “She said it was to save money. I don’t think you can put a price on someone’s vote. One of my goals is to reopen those closed precincts.”

His plan of action also includes being more visible in the high schools and at churches to recruit, instruct and assist in the voting process.

“I’ll go to the schools personally and educate students on what a vote means,” he said.

Olivo credits Arrington for paring down the SOE budget to $2.6 million annually, but said he can streamline the operation even more.

“I’ll bring a business mentality to the office, and it’ll be the people’s office,” he said. “I know how to run a successful business, which they can’t say. I know how to change with the people and the times.

“I’m not looking to clean house from the bottom. I think changes can be made at the top. We also need to look at what’s being paid in legal counsel fees.”