Editorial: Voters, elections office make us proud

Editorial: Voters, elections office make us proud



Publication Date: 11/06/08


Almost since the end of the 2006 general election, Supervisor of Elections Penny Halyburton and her staff were getting ready for Tuesday. It did not take a rocket scientist to know within the last year that this would be the general election of the century. The run up to the presidential election started in 2006.

Long before the 2008 election ended Tuesday, Halyburton already was moving on to the 2010 election. She takes note on each election so she and her staff can improve the next one. New voting machines will be coming in 2010, she said.

Halyburton had a record-breaking general election this year, as 80.3 percent of the county's 131,744 voters cast ballots. That's 105,776 voters. This turnout was slightly higher than the 2004 number of 79.02 percent. Halyburton had predicted 88 percent, and certainly she did everything she could to get there. Last weekend, when early voting was ending and absentee voting was winding down, more than 65,000 had voted. We thought she'd make 88 percent.

Given what we had though in turnout, we think the performance deserves recognition from the state, too. Her staff was always cheerful and pleasant no matter the question.

Few problems arose, but there was the usual slowdown at the very end of the count. Southeast Branch Library was the last one in at 11 p.m., about an hour behind the next-to-the-last. Southeast Library is a large precinct and had a large voter turnout. But when the last one came in, the final tally emerged quickly.

The good news is that St. Johns County's results, except for provisional ballots, are recorded. We could be Broward or Palm Beach, for example, where ballots were still being counted midday Wednesday.

In our case, that's only where the lead is thin: School Board District 5. Incumbent Carla W. Wright has a three-vote lead over challenger Lionel "Skeeter" Key Jr. Provisional ballots -- used to vote when there is a problem with a voter's registration or other voter-related issues -- number 146 in that race. Friday, we'll know who won because that is when the provisional ballots are counted. What a cliffhanger!

Meanwhile, we thank Halyburton, the elections office staff, poll workers, candidates and voters for Tuesday's record-breaking turnout. Elections cannot work without all of them.


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