“Write-ins” withdraw – Smith elected

In a maybe-not-too-surprising move, Historic City News was informed by Supervisor of Elections Vicky Oakes today that the write-in candidates who closed the Primary Elections have officially withdrawn their names from consideration; causing one county commissioner to be elected without opposition, while the other still faces a challenger whose name will appear on the General Election ballot November 4th.

St Johns County Commissioner-elect Jeb Smith can start taking down his campaign signs now that John Milton Sailer has withdrawn from consideration. Neither Historic City News editor Michael Gold nor the Elections Office is aware of any county commissioner who has ever been elected in St Johns County by write-in. Smith will be sworn-in and assumes the District 2 seat previously held by Ronald F. Sanchez, who ran third behind Kim Kendall in the August 26 Primary.

On the other hand, District 4 incumbent, Jay Morris, did not get off so easy. Although Fran Schoenberger withdrew from consideration as a write-in, another candidate, Merrill Paul Roland, a registered Republican who is running without party affiliation, paid the required qualifying fee in order for his name to appear on the printed ballot in November. The winner will be decided by simple majority of votes cast in that election.

By qualifying, Roland’s candidacy had the same effect on Morris as the write-in candidate — even though Roland and Morris are both registered Republicans, by Roland running without party affiliation, the Primary Election would have still been closed. Democrats and others would not have been allowed to vote in the Republican Primary.