Clark: Voters get it

She took heat for the number of early voting sites she offered, but Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections Deb Clark won big in Tuesday's election. Read today's story here.

Will Van Sant, Times staff writer

Comments

[Buddy J.]

Congrats to Deb! But when voters only hit the “top of the ticket” and go home… trust me Deb; they don’t “get it” at all.

[TRUE BLUE]

If the Dem. candidate didn't expect to win- why did he run???

[Thankful Pinellas Voter]

Ms. Clark - thanks for your leadership! The voters made the right choice in reelecting you.

I think Deb is hot!

As I read this , I am absolutely struck by the fact that the SOE job is too political. It should be nonpartisan, and frankly, I'm starting to think it should be appointed with a long set of minimum qualifications that neither Clark nor Johnson would have met.

The conflict of interest here is staggering. We need the public trust in such an office, and it should be above partisanship. Clark won because she had a weak challenger, not because she herself is doing such a hot job. In the corporate world, you could never get away with shrugging your shoulders, making jokes, using a southern accent, and hoping people ignore your shortcomings.

Yeah... but when you’re a Republican SOE, and can pull off 370+ precincts reporting within an hour, and all local Republicans win … your “shortcomings” are over looked... ;-)

Her comments are very disturbing. Given her resources, the Times endorsement,
and a likeable but not terribly strong
opponent, she could have easily won by
as much as 70/30 had she not brought on the controversy. If she does not committ
to a better facilitation of early voting
she will make herself the number one
local target of Pinellas Democrats.
I'd be willing to bet the early voting was probably closer to 50/50, and if she doesn't change her philosophy in
regard, any benefit of the doubt she may have had re: intentional Democrat voter suppression will be gone.
She really needs to rethink her position.

Deb will leave within 6-months for health reasons. Crist will appoint another R tool to rig Pinellas going forward.

I still say Deb is hot. I’d be tagging it like a Wal-Mart stockboy on a Saturday morning before the big yellow smiley face sale!

[Bill B]

It is difficult to understand why the Florida legislature resists a reasonable audit process to prove counting is reliable.

Sooner or later our elections are going to have to be run by non-partisan interests and be made completely transparent.

The only reason NOT to make elections transparent is to control outcome.

tic.tic.tic.tic...

4:41, you would have time to tag her on saturday morning because there weren't enough early voting locations open on sat to keep her otherwise occupied

The elections are over and the executives at the St. Petersburg Times need to sit back and absorb all the anger, slander and animosities that were used during this campaign time. There has to be one executive that has a wife or children, but more important, a soul. The things that have been said that caused emotional wounds that will never heal really weren't worth it, were they? God made us all equal, no one better and allowing innocent people to be humiliated in your columns was so unkind and inhuman. Was it worth it? Was it necessary? Maybe the Times blogs will change their style, start anew, be kinder and gentler. Maybe not.