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UPDATE:
Endorsed by the
Florida Today
October 10, 2008
Our views: We recommend Lori Scott
Lori Scott is best qualified to assume important
role as Supervisor of Elections
The George Bush-Al Gore recount of 2000 gave Florida
an ugly black eye for ballot-box incompetence, but
Brevard County thankfully escaped the fiasco.
That’s because of former Supervisor of Elections
Fred Galey’s prescience in convincing the County
Commission to buy optical scan voting machines in
1999.
Galey ran the office adroitly for 15 years, but
resigned in March for health reasons. That leaves
Brevard in need of a strong replacement for the
critical post.
We recommend Republican Lori Scott.
Scott is a Space Coast native who has worked for 16
years for Brevard’s delegation of state lawmakers,
including nine years as GOP Sen. Mike Haridopolos’
chief of staff. That’s given her a solid background
in state law and experience serving constituents
from across the political spectrum.
Scott is advocating improvements and efficiencies
that we believe are good ideas. She would:
Improve the office’s Web site and increase
transparency, such as by posting candidates’
campaign finance reports online and cross-training
employees to serve the public more effectively.
Increase local participation in elections, including
use of groups such as the Space Coast League of
Women Voters, which has run successful registration
drives in high schools under Galey’s watch.
Keep politics out of what rightly must be a
nonpartisan organization.
The importance of running an office free of the
taint of political meddling can’t be
over-emphasized.
Florida is the most hostile state in the nation to
new voters, according to the Brennan Center for
Justice in New York, with a tainted record of
passing laws to suppress the vote among lower-income
and minority groups.
Brevard’s elections office should stand strongly
against such undemocratic tactics, and Scott has
pledged to do so by working with Florida’s
Association of Supervisors of Elections on policies
that make casting a ballot easier, not harder, for
all legitimate voters.
Her opponents are Democrat Frank Grieco, a Barefoot
Bay financial analyst, and Frank Buckoski, a retired
builder from Mims running without party affiliation.
Both want to protect the integrity of elections and
use taxpayer dollars wisely.
But Scott’s public-policy background gives her the
decided edge and our recommendation.
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