Johnson loses Hillsborough elections supervisor seat

TAMPA -- Hillsborough Supervisor of Elections Buddy Johnson conceded his re-election race tonight, after a day of counting early vote results showed a commanding lead by his challenger, Phyllis Busansky.

"You may not have seen the last of Buddy Johnson," he said. "I'm proud of my staff. I'm proud of the voters. Congratulations to Phyllis Busansky."

“I’m absolutely thrilled," Busansky said from her home Thursday night. "I ran on restoring confidence in this office and that’s what we’ve done.” When asked what she planned to do her first day in office, she said, "I have no idea. Until two minutes ago I wasn’t at all sure I was going to win.”

It was unclear at 6 p.m. how many more votes remained to be counted.

In other results, Democrat Kevin Beckner won his race against incumbent Republican County Commissioner Brian Blair by a sizable margin, according to the tally released Thursday evening.

Other races followed the trends established Tuesday night before vote counting was stopped because of computer problems. School Board member Carol Kurdell was beating challenger Stephen Gorham 52 percent to 47 percent. One race for Soil and Water Conservation District remained very close and appeared headed for a recount.

Vote counting resumed at 9:30 a.m. Thursday, with elections workers manually feeding paper ballots into dozens of scanners so the results could eventually be uploaded to computers for counting. Those results failed to upload on election night after problems with the new optical scan voting system by Premier Election Solutions.

All three members of the Hillsborough canvassing board said they expect some legal action against Premier Election Solutions, the vendor that sold the county its computerized vote-counting system.

"What's wrong with the system? Somebody will have to be held accountable,'' said Judge James Dominguez, a board member. "I'm sorry it took so long, but I felt that no matter how long it took, the numbers would be accurate.''

County Commissioner and canvassing board member Kevin White said of Johnson's consession, "I saw a very proud man who was dealing with the agony of defeat. He was conceding as graciously as he could, with the culmination of losing and the mishaps.''

White said he was glad the process was over. Election employees have been worked to the brink of exhaustion, and "now they have the anxiety of a new administration.''

Commissioner Rose Ferlita, the third canvassing board member, said of Johnson, "it's unfortunate he didn't elaborate more. If there were things he would have done differently, he should have said what they were.''

Michael Van Sickler, Times Staff Writer

*   

Comments

GO PHYLLIS!!!!

[Miller]

It would have been more than a little ironic if Johnson had kept his office after this 3 day election fiasco.

Good Riddance to bad rubbish. Another self-loathing closet case bites the dust!!!

Good riddance!

Wow. Obama wins Hillsborough handily, Phyllis wins and Kevin wins. Hillsborough County Democrats, give yourselves a hand!

Finally, competence returns to the Supervisor of Elections Office. Congratulations to Phyllis! We really need you.

[Richard]

Buddy Johnson did his best to disenfranchise the voters of Hillsborough County throughout his tenure. His shameless use of official materials to promote himself under the guise of "educational materials" was an affront to the integrity of the office. As others have said, good riddance to bad rubbish. Buh bye, Buddy. Enjoy your retirement on your "cattle ranch."

[Claire Zuckerman]

Yayyyyyy Phyllis!!! Been watching the news all 2 days.

How can Buddy Johnson even think he could ever be elected again in the future????? Voters are not that dumb!

[Dave]

Another Bush appointment disappointment.

[Bye, bye Buddy!]

Good riddance Buddy. For every vote that was lost, for every privacy booth that underplaced, for every line longer than an hour wait, and for every American who was prevented from voting...

Buh bye!!

[Bye, bye Buddy!]

Congratulations Phyllis and Kevin!

[Rob MacKenna]

Praise the Lord.

[Pat]

What a sleazy act she is, I am sure it will come out that she cheated in some way, i used to work for her and she never followed the rules, always cut corners

[Dawn]

She is so desperate, she can't breathe unless she is controlling something or running for something, her kids hate her, always tell me horror stories

[Trunk]

Can't believe so many a-holes in Hillsborough County voted for this crook. He sould be prosecuted and go to jail.

[dale]

won't take her long to screw things up, she always does, LOL

[Susan Clary]

Congratulations to one of the best government officials Hillsborough County has ever had - Ms. Busansky.
We should be grateful to public servants like Phyllis and Kevin. What a wonderful outcome for both of them. What a great ending for Hillsborough County. Best wishes to two very strong candidates and their hard-fought victories. Congratulations to their campaign staffs too.
Both Brian Blair and Buddy Johnson were embarrassments to their party and to their constituents.
It is a new day!

[Mike]

"sould"? Trunk, you should be in a trunk, spell much?

[Trunk]

Those who voted for Buddy got what they deserved...a politically corrupt, incompetent pol. Good riddance. Hope the Justice Department investigates this mess and sends Buddy to jail.

[Pat]

Susan Clary is an embarrassment to us all

[Sould]

find a dictionary to type with?

[Pat Rose]

Ms Busansky is an old hag with no ability, she will be kicked out, mark my words, I was her neighbor for years, you wouldn't believe what she does behind closed doors

[Henry]

Susan Clary has got her own skeletons in the closet to worry about, let Buddy worry about his

[Sam]

Is this the best we got? Crazy, crooked Busansky and old Buddy? Slim pickens, from crap to crappiest