Editor’s Note: As of Wednesday morning, a large number of provisional ballots were yet to be counted and may change some race results, according to the Osceola County Supervisor of Elections Office.

COUNTY ELECTIONS

By Fallan Patterson
Staff Writer

Osceola County residents were closely divided Tuesday night after barely returning incumbent John Quiñones to his County Commission seat over challenger Armando Ramirez; choosing newcomer Tom Long over longtime School Board member John McKay and electing Frank Attkisson to replace retiring Commissioner Ken Smith.

Supervisor of Elections public information officer Amber Smith said 53,770 voters turned out, or 36.6 percent of the county’s registered voters.

Quiñones slid into retaining his position as district 2 county commissioner late Tuesday night after Ramirez led the race most of the night. Quiñones eventually won over Ramirez by 56 votes, less than 1 percent of the vote.

“What hurt me the most is the pain and suffering of my dedicated wife, Milly, my children and especially the downtrodden residents of BVL,” Ramirez said. “My next battles will be focusing on the highest energy rates of BVL and Poinciana – the highest rates in Osceola County. I want to bring relief to these communities.”

“I went out and knocked on doors for the past year and residents told me they couldn't afford government,” Attkisson said. “The majority of the people elected me to downsize government and I plan to do just that.”

On the School Board race, newcomer Tom Long will join Barbara Horn, who was elected in the Aug. 24 primary election. Long ousted incumbent and School Board chairman John McKay, who served on the Board since 2002.

Long earned 6,781 votes, or 53 percent of the vote, over McKay's 46.9 percent.

Osceola County referendums

As far as the local Osceola County referendums, it was a split.

The Improving Osceola amendment, which asked county residents for a penny sales tax increase for building roads and highways, failed 31,718 to 10,601 votes, losing by 75 percent.

But an amendment to grant property tax exemptions for new businesses expansion of existing businesses was approved by 57 percent, or 28,059 to 21,013 votes. The amendment was designed to try to combat the unemployment rate and a low average salary in Central Florida. The 10-year tax abatement incentive will not affect the existing tax base, as the incentive will only apply to new improvements tied to new jobs. Each incentive application will be evaluated case-by-case.

State Constitutional amendments

Voters Tuesday also weighed in on six state Constitutional amendments dealing with issues such as class size and property tax relief for deployed military personnel.

Constitutional amendments needed 60 percent of the vote to pass.

Those passed included:

Amendment 2 received 77.81 percent of the vote.

The amendment will provide an additional homestead property tax exemption for designated military personnel. The exemption amount will be based on the number of days in the previous calendar year the person was deployed on active military duty outside the United States and will take effect Jan. 1.

Amendments 5 and 6, partner proposals, passed 62.61 and 62.84 percent, respectively. Essentially, they both will create continuous, compact districts as equal in population as possible for legislative and congressional representation, respectively.

The amendment was sponsored by FairDistrictsFlorida.org, which says politicians were manipulating the district lines to favor incumbents or a particular party.

Those that failed to get more than 60 percent of the vote included:

Amendment 1 received only 52.51 percent of the vote. This amendment would have repealed campaign financing by the state to political hopefuls beginning in the 2014 election cycle.

Amendment 4 only received 32.91 percent of the vote. If passed, this amendment would have required that before a local government could adopt a new comprehensive land use plan or amend an existing one, the change or proposal would be subject to a vote.

Amendment 8 only received 54.56 percent of the vote. Approval would have amended the state’s constitution establishing school class-size limits, which went into effect last month and which was passed in 2002 by 52 percent of the voters.

The current class size caps, depending on the grade level, are: for pre-kindergarten to third grade, 18 students; grades 4 to 8, 22 students; and grades 9 to 12, 25 students. The proposed amendment would have given schools more flexibility in meeting the caps and would allow an increase of no more than five students in each grade beyond the currently allowed numbers.

State races

Republican Marco Rubio will be Florida’s new senator, taking in 49 percent of the vote over Democratic challenger Kendrick Meek (20.1 percent) and independent candidate Charlie Crist (29.7 percent). Rubio took 48.3 percent of the vote in Osceola County, compared to Meek’s 28 percent and Crist’s 22.1 percent.

In the heated governor’s race, Republican Rick Scott eaked won narrowly over Democrat Alex Sink by just over 1 percent of the vote — 48.9 to 47.7. In Osceola County, Sink won more votes than Scott — 51.3 to 45 percent.

Incumbent State Rep. Mike Horner, R-Kissimmee, easily fended off 79th district challenges from Democrat Eddie Freeman and TEA Party candidate Jose Alvarez. Horner won with 60.8 percent of the vote and 59.7 percent in Osceola County

State Rep. Darren Soto, D-Orlando, handily retained his 49th district seat over Betty LaChance, with 75.3 percent of the statewide vote. In Osceola County, he took 80.3 percent of the vote.

Congressman Bill Posey, R-Rockledge, held off a tough 15th district challenge from Democratic opponent Shannon Roberts, with 64.7 percent of the vote. Posey carried Osceola County with 55.6 percent of the vote.

State Rep. Steve Precourt, R-Orlando, won with 57.5 percent of the statewide vote, staving off Democratic challenger Lee Douglas, who took 38 percent. Precourt, however, lost the Osceola County vote to Douglas, garnering only 44.4 percent to Douglas’ 51 percent. John Foley of the TEA Party took in 4.5 percent.