An analysis of results of the Aug. 23 election shows one common determiner across Volusia County: Republicans turned out to vote far stronger than Democrats.
Among the county’s 404,447 registered voters, 38.7 percent are Republicans, and 31 percent are Democrats. But countywide voter turnout figures show 49.64 percent of Republicans cast ballots, while only 35.93 percent of Democrats did so.
Overall voter turnout in the Aug. 23 election — including those registered with no party affiliation and those registered with minor parties — was 28.8 percent.
Here are some highlights from the precinct-by-precinct results reported by the Volusia County Elections Office, starting with Pierson, whose 824 registered voters provided a microscopic — and sometimes exaggerated, because of the small numbers — look at what happened countywide.
Pierson
One precinct covers the town, Precinct 102.
Out of 824 total registered voters who live in Pierson, 276 cast ballots in the August primary, a hyper localized example of some countywide trends.
In rural Pierson, some 42 percent of the electorate are registered Republicans, and 28 percent are registered Democrats.
Here, Republicans overperformed in ballots cast, at nearly 65 percent, while Democrats underperformed at roughly 22 percent.
In the School Board District 1 race that pits longtime educator Al Bouie (a registered Democrat) against incumbent Jamie Haynes, a Gov. Ron DeSantis-endorsed (a registered Republican), Piersonites overwhelmingly voted for Haynes, at 63.24 percent to Bouie’s 12.65 percent.
Three other candidates in that race each picked up a handful of votes, but were knocked out; as the top vote-getters, Bouie and Haynes will face off in the Tuesday, Nov. 8, general election. It will be a rematch of their 2018 race, which Haynes won, except that, in 2018, Bouie entered the race late to replace a Democrat who unexpectedly dropped out.
More surprising in Pierson is the split vote in the County Council at-large race, an election that has been marked by infighting.
There, the two Democratic candidates — Sherrise Boyd and Andy Kelly — picked up nearly 45 percent of all Pierson votes cast, with Kelly, who lives in DeLand, the clear front-runner, with 86 votes, or 33.46 percent, ahead of the two Republican candidates, Jake Johansson (64 votes) and Doug Pettit (76 votes).
Piersonites voted more in local races, and skipped some statewide ones. Of the 79 Democrats registered to vote in Pierson, 56 cast ballots in the Democratic primary for governor.
Among those, Charlie Crist led with 47 votes, trailed by Nikki Fried with 21. Long-shot gubernatorial candidates Robert L. Willis and Cadance Daniel picked up 9 and 0 votes, respectively.
DeBary
Precincts 309, 310, 311, 312 and 313
DeBary’s registered voters skew Republican and, as in every other precinct surveyed, Republican turnout was higher than Democratic turnout.
DeBary’s largest precinct, 311 (where there are 9,271 registered voters and 2,284 ballots were cast), had a 33-percent Republican voter turnout versus a Democratic turnout of 28 percent.
Keeping with the countywide trend, margins in the nonpartisan County Council at-large race, which every registered voter in Volusia County was eligible to weigh in on, were remarkably tight: while Jake Johansson led in DeBary precincts overall, the three competitors — Sherrise Boyd, Andy Kelly and Doug Pettit — each received more than 20 percent of DeBary’s vote.
In the at-large race, Johannsson and Pettit, both East Volusia residents, will be in a runoff Nov. 8. The winner will replace Glenwood resident Ben Johnson, who opted to not run for re-election.
DeLand
Precincts 205, 207, 209, 211, 212 and 216
As in other cities, DeLand Republicans outperformed in voter turnout in the August 2022 primary, but they were split in their choices in the County Council at-large race.
One Democratic candidate in that race, Andy Kelly, nudged out his three competitors in all DeLand precincts.
In DeLand-specific races, mayoral candidate and current City Commissioner Chris Cloudman took the lead in all precincts over his mayoral competitors, Reggie Williams and Buz Nesbit.
Nesbit was knocked out, and Cloudman and Williams, as the top vote-getters, will run off in the Nov. 8 election.
By a narrower margin, School Board District 1 candidate Jamie Haynes, the incumbent and a Republican, also did well against her opponents. In Haynes’ case, opponent Al Bouie trailed by only 50 or so votes in some DeLand precincts. Districtwide, Haynes took 43.43 percent of the vote and Bouie got 25.46, with five total candidates in the running.
Haynes and Bouie will run off Nov. 8.
Deltona
Precincts 401, 402, 403, 404, 405, 406, 407, 408, 409, 410, 411, 412 and 413
Deltona’s sprawling geographic footprint encompasses a whopping 13 precincts, and voter turnout was generally good, likely due to Deltona’s mayoral race and the Deltona-centric School Board District 5 race.
School Board incumbent Ruben Colón narrowly hung onto his seat, with 8,805 votes for 51.34 percent, to 8,346 votes for Fred Lowry, a term-limited member of the Volusia County Council who was endorsed by Gov. DeSantis.
Colón’s narrow lead was true in all the precincts, winning him another four-year term on the School Board.
In the three-person Deltona mayoral race, incumbent Heidi Herzberg faced lively competition from Santiago Avila Jr., who garnered nearly 36 percent of all votes, versus Herzberg’s 48.78 percent, just shy of preventing a runoff.
Lake Helen
Precincts 217, 218, 219 and 220
Lake Helen had no city-specific races on the Aug. 23 ballot, perhaps accounting for what for Lake Helen is a low voter turnout of around 30 percent. Lake Helen voters typically outperform those in other cities. The 2020 presidential election, for instance, saw more than 81 percent of Lake Helen registered voters casting ballots.
