Dunedin Mayor To Face Bill Young

Posted Aug 26, 2008 by Steven Girardi

Updated Aug 26, 2008 at 09:55 PM

9:45 p.m. In Pinellas County, Dunedin Mayor Bob Hackworth and about 150 supporters got the party under way early at La Maison Gourmet in downtown Dunedin.

Hackworth easily pulled away from his two Democratic opponents in the U.S. Congressional District 10 primary.

Hackworth grabbed 47 percent of the vote, leaving Samm Simpson, with 29 percent, and Max Linn, with 24 percent, to split the rest.

The winner faces Republican incumbent Bill Young in November.

Hackworth, 53, knocked on 14,000 doors during the campaign, and said it paid off.

“There’s no question,’’ he said, shortly after wrapping up the election before 9 p.m.. “It doesn’t happen often that a congressional candidate knocks on your door.’’

It is a practice he has employed in his mayoral races, and Hackworth said he had good exchanges with voters.

“It’s going to help me govern.’’

He said he was allowing himself the night to celebrate, then it will be right back to work to challenge Republican Bill Young, a 38-year incumbent.

“The election is only 69 days away,’’ he said. “But we have a plan. We’re going to start knocking on Republicans’ and Independents’ doors, too.’ 

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Buddy Johnson Blames New System For Delays

Posted Aug 26, 2008 by Ellen Gedalius

Updated Aug 26, 2008 at 09:44 PM

9:20 p.m.: Elections Supervisor Buddy Johnson stressed that even though there are delays in reporting today’s primary results, “All of our ballots are counted. All of our ballots are in.’’

Johnson, who is facing what is expected to be a tough re-election battle against Phyllis Busansky in the Nov. 4 primary, said the problem stemmed from a database issue with Premier Election Solutions, the makers of the optical screen voting system the county switched to this year.

He said the company’s equipment wasn’t uploading ballots to the reporting screens.

Posting of results began shortly after 9 p.m. By about 9:15 p.m., the elections office had posted the results of 186 of 383 precincts.

Also shortly after 9 p.m., Busansky was headed to the elections office.

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Politicking Over, Stress Grows

Posted Aug 26, 2008 by Thomas W. Krause

Updated Aug 26, 2008 at 08:17 PM

8:15 p.m.: At the Columbia Restaurant in Ybor City, Assistant Public Defender Samantha Ward, a candidate for circuit judge, is watching election results with family and friends. For most of the day, Ward and her supporters traveled from precinct to precinct doing some heavy politicking.

By 8 p.m., all are pretty tired and pretty anxious.

“Of course my stomach is in knots but other than that …” Ward said, without ending the thought.

The absentee ballots, counted first, gave Ward a sizeable lead but while she waited for the precinct results to come in, Ward said her anxiety was increasing.

“It’s very encouraging but, you know, it’s even more stressful than before,” she said.

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Hillsborough Election Results Delayed

Posted Aug 26, 2008 by Ellen Gedalius

Updated Aug 26, 2008 at 08:20 PM

8 p.m.: Technical glitches are delaying the posting of election results in Hillsborough County.

The elections office is removing the absentee results from its Web site and will reload them after counting precinct votes and early voting results.

Elections Supervisor Buddy Johnson said all votes are safe and secure. He didn’t know how long the delay would last.

The absentee results that had been posted shortly after the polls closed at 7 p.m. were accurate, Johnson said.

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Poll Turnout Now Estimated At 4%

Posted Aug 26, 2008 by Ellen Gedalius

Updated Aug 26, 2008 at 08:20 PM

5:45 p.m.: In an update from 5 p.m., Hillsborough’s elections office reports voter turnout is estimated at 4.4 percent.

An additional 4.6 percent of eligible voters cast either absentee ballots or voted early.

Polls close at 7 p.m.

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