DOUBLE CHECK — Volusia County Canvassing Board Member Judge David Foxman double checks tough-to-count ballots from the Nov. 8 general election with Supervisor of Elections Lisa Lewis.
A precinct-by-precinct look reveals that Volusia’s red wave was no fluke — only a handful of the 136 precincts countywide tilted toward Democrats, and even then, by only a slim margin.
In West Volusia, only precincts 209, 210, 211 and 212 bucked overall trends — those precincts are in the northwestern and northeastern portions of DeLand and portions of southwest and southeast DeLand. In those precincts, Democratic candidates Barb Girtman and Al Bouie either won outright, or very nearly won, in contrast to the other 25-plus precincts where they lost handily.
Also in West Volusia, only precinct 212, roughly from New York to Beresford avenues and Woodland Boulevard to Spring Garden Avenue, voted for Charlie Crist over Gov. Ron DeSantis, 873 votes, or 62 percent, to 522, or 37 percent.
In precincts 209, 210 and 211, as well as in all other precincts comprising DeLand, DeSantis won by roughly 10 percentage points.
Similarly, only precincts 603 to 607, 609 and 614, in central Daytona Beach, tilted to candidates registered as Democrats. Only those seven precincts, out of 136 countywide, voted for Crist.
In contests between two Republicans, candidates officially endorsed by the Volusia County Republican Executive Committee won handily over their opponents. For instance, County Council at-large candidate Doug Pettit won only two of 136 precincts, including precinct 719, a small inlet in Port Orange, which had only 12 voters cast a ballot. He decisively won that area, 9 to 3, but lost big overall, 79,105 to his opponent, locally endorsed Republican Jake Johansson, who received 112,392 votes.
Oh heavens help us! : ) Again, there are Dems and NPAs that voted against Girtman this round because of her poor performance and lets face it, the Democratic organizations in Volusia County are weak and somewhat inept and at the state level the Dems keep offering up some of the worst candidates possible. And I think we need less articles about this and more about the Stromboli at Dobro’s. Just my thoughts…
I will whole heartedly refute KLC’s statement, “on the state level the Dems keep offering up some of the worst candidates.”
Both Demings and Crist tout resumes of public service no less than those of their opponents, and held sway in their respective debates against Rubio and DeSantis.