Once a political party achieves a certain level of dominance, it gets bored with fighting its weaker opponent. It becomes more invested in fighting with itself.
And so it is that in St. Johns County, where 56% of voters are Republicans and there are more no-party voters than Democrats, internal struggles have broken out among Republicans. A division that recently resulted in criminal charges.
Two St. Johns County commissioners, Christian Whitehurst and Sarah Arnold, along with St. Augustine Beach Commissioner Dylan Rumrell, were charged with putting out a voter guide in August 2024 that, according to the charging document, “falsely represented itself as an official publication of the St. Johns County Republican Executive Committee.”
Republicans versus Republicans in St. Johns County
Distributing fake political party voter guides is a misdemeanor under Florida law. The actual palm card of the St. Johns Republican Executive Committee endorsed different candidates.
A political consultant, Brianna Jordan, and a woman who worked for her, Jamie Johnson, face the same charges. Jordan additionally faces the charge of evidence tampering, a felony, for burning unmailed fliers on a grill.
This was not your customary Republican-versus-Democrat dirty tricks mailing. These were Republican-on-Republican hijinks. It’s sad when politicians can’t be bothered to continue the tradition of hoodwinking the other party’s voters with deceptive mailings. But that’s what one-party political systems are like.
Something that is worth keeping in mind now that we enter political mailer season.
Volusia super voters callout!
What? Election season already? Yes, the first round of mail-in ballots has already gone out to voters for the Aug. 18 primary election. Early in-person voting starts Aug. 8.
Primary elections, the first sorting of candidates, have pitiful turnouts, an average of 23% in the past four primaries in Florida gubernatorial election years. But this means if you bother to vote, your vote is particularly impactful, especially in local races.
This year’s party primaries see four Republicans running for U.S. Senate and two Democrats. No fewer than 11 Republicans are running for governor and six Democrats.
Florida has a closed-primary system where only Republicans can only vote for Republican nominees and only Democrats for their nominees. It’s been that way since 1913, yet every year, this is a surprise to some voters. Especially no-party voters who must sit these races out.
The person with the most votes in the primary is the party nominee even when that winner falls short of getting 50% of the vote.
Local races, however, are often nonpartisan, so everyone can vote for those candidates.
With mail-in ballots out and early voting only weeks away, this is prime mailbox season for super voters. Super voters are people who vote in successive elections without fail. Politicos and political action committees value their super voter mailing lists. And yes, the fake voter guides were a super voter mailing.
I am a super voter myself. I try not to abuse my power over the absent nonvoters in my community, even though I hold unpopular views. And I, too, get a lot of mail this time of year.
Mail I scrutinize carefully. I particularly enjoy the way opposing candidate pictures are rendered in grainy black-and-white as though the images were taken from a convenience store’s shoplifting camera. And I always read the fine print saying which group is mailing it out.
Is it from a candidate’s official committee or from some shadowy PAC residing in a U-Pack-It store’s rental mailbox somewhere in Wakulla Springs? And just what is the Free Floridians For Freedom, Truth, Justice, Liberty, Sunshine and Automatic Weapons PAC and is the candidate it opposes really a communist and convicted litterbug?
Already in St. Johns County some Republicans are complaining about the newest Republican candidate endorsement mailer from a competing unofficial Republican group — although this one says so in the disclaimers. Note to voters: Always read the disclaimers and fine print. And, although this is self-serving advice, check the more salacious charges against newspaper coverage.
Super voters, this is your moment! Use your power over your community’s majority wisely and throw away most of what you get in the mail with a cynical chuckle.
Mark Lane is a News-Journal columnist. His email is mlanewrites@gmail.com.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Volusia voters beware! It’s campaign mailer season
Reporting by Mark Lane, Special to The News-Journal / The Daytona Beach News-Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Mark Lane, Special to The News-Journal | USA TODAY Network
