Gov.-elect DeSantis taps Seminole County SOE for Secretary of State (Tampa Bay Times)

I recall that Seminole County Supervisor of Elections MICHAEL ERTEL was cruelly unfair with our 2008 Democratic Congressional candidate, economist Faye Armitage, falsely claiming she was two minutes late (untrue) with her last batch of petitions, and refusing to transmit some of her indisputably timely-filed petitions to other counties in what was then the Seventh Congressional District for her race against then-Rep. John Luigi Mica.

Nasty man, this MICHAEL ERTEL.

As they say in East Tennessee, "I wouldn't trust MIKE ERTEL in an outhouse with a muzzle on."

Looks like he's just the man for Governor-elect RONALD DION DeSANTIS to try to steal the 2000 election.  Ambitious arachnid apparatchik deserves investigative reporting scrutiny.  Now.

The position of Florida Secretary of State was once elected, but voters amended the Constitution in 1998 to make it appointed by the Governor.


From Tampa Bay Times:

DeSantis taps Seminole County SOE for Secretary of State

Ertel will replace Secretary of State Ken Detzner, who was appointed to the role first by Gov. Jeb Bush in 2003 and then again by Gov. Rick Scott in 2012. 

Governor-elect Ron DeSantis' transition team announced the appointment of Seminole County Supervisor of Elections, Michael Ertel, as Secretary of State Friday. Photo courtesy Seminole County 

By Samantha J. Gross 

4 hours ago

 

 

Governor-elect Ron DeSantis' transition team announced the appointment of Seminole County Supervisor of Elections, Michael Ertel, as Secretary of State Friday.

"As Supervisor of Elections in Seminole County — where he has been elected by the voters four times — Mike has proven that he is vastly qualified to lead the state's elections efforts as Secretary of State, and will strive to ensure that Florida voters are confident that elections continue to be fair and accurate," DeSantis wrote in a statement.

Ertel, who uses inspirational quotes from Abraham Lincoln and Franklin D. Roosevelt in his email signature, was appointed to his current role by former Gov. Jeb Bush in 2005. He was re-elected as the Seminole County SOE in 2006, 2008, 2012 and 2016.

His name will come to the foreground in 2019, as the 2018 midterm recounts and calls to investigate claims of voter fraud will likely spur election-related discussion and legislation this legislative session.

Before Ertel became an elections supervisor, he served as his home county's first public information officer and worked for the state's tourism marketing agency, Visit Florida.

He will replace Secretary of State Ken Detzner, who was appointed to the role first by Bush in 2003 and then again by Gov. Rick Scott in 2012.

Seminole County elections chief in running to be next Secretary of State

Michael Ertel, the long-time elections supervisor in the Orlando suburb, is a veteran, like Gov.-elect Ron DeSantis. 

Michael Ertel has been Seminole County's supervisor of elections since 2005 {via Twitter]

By Steve Bousquet

Dec. 4

 

 

The long-time supervisor of elections in suburban Orlando's Seminole County, Michael Ertel, is a leading candidate to be Florida's next secretary of state.

Ertel, 49, is a Republican who was appointed supervisor by former Gov. Jeb Bush in 2005 when the previous elections chief resigned. Ertel previously applied for secretary of state when the post became vacant in 2012 after Kurt Browning resigned.

Like Gov.-elect Ron DeSantis, who will make the appointment, Ertel is a veteran who served in the Army. Two phone messages left with Ertel on Monday by the Times/Herald were not returned.

"I think it's no secret that he's interested," Pasco County Supervisor of Elections Brian Corley said of Ertel.

Ertel has a web site that is headlined "Rebuilding trust in Florida's elections."

His interest in the statewide post comes as the politics in Seminole appear to be shifting from red to blue.

Once a deep-red county, it's increasingly competitive. Democrat Andrew Gillum outperformed DeSantis in the governor's race, and a Republican House member, Bob Cortes, lost his seat to a Democrat last month.

Ertel is a personable and media-savvy elections administrator who has a very active social media presence on Facebook and Twitter.

Ertel drew attention in the 2016 election cycle with his online efforts to "Debunk the Bunk" and discredit false rumors of election chicanery.

Many election supervisors would feel reassured, having one of their own in charge of statewide election administration. Tensions surfaced on occasion during Gov. Rick Scott's tenure between supervisors and Secretary of State Ken Detzner.

DeSantis must soon pick up the pace of making many high-level agency appointees. He'll take office as Florida's 46th governor five weeks from today.