What’s on the ballot in the Florida Keys? Here are the races and voting information

Gwen Filosa, David Goodhue

Florida Keys voters will find several local races and questions on their primary ballot on Tuesday. Among the races: nonpartisan contests for school board, county commissioner and county judge.

In Key West, incumbent Teri Johnston faces Margaret Romero for city mayor, another nonpartisan race.

Also on ballot: a wide open race for the District 4 seat on the seven-member City Commission. The candidates are Ryan Barwick, Lissette Cuervo Carey, Kim Highsmith and Steven Nekhaila. If necessary, a runoff will be held Nov. 8 during the general election.

Polls in Monroe County are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday.

Where do you vote?

Find your precinct on the Monroe County Supervisor of Elections website. The supervisor’s site also has sample ballots, details on Keys candidates, including campaign finance reports, and an online tool to check voter registration status.

Countywide elections

All Monroe County voters have the following races on their ballots:

Monroe County Commissioner

Holly Raschein, a Keys State house representative from 2012-2020, faces perennial candidate Jose Peixoto. Both are Republicans.

Raschein was appointed to the District 5 seat by Gov. Ron DeSantis in Sept. 2021, to finish the term of Mike Forster.

Forster died Sept. 6 at 61 from pneumonia caused by a weeks-long battle with COVID-19. All voters choose this race because there is no Democratic primary contest this year.

Monroe County School Board

School Board members run countywide in nonpartisan campaigns, but their districts represent parts of the Keys.

The District 5 seat on the five-person board will go to either Alexandra Suarez and the incumbent, retired pediatrician Sue Woltanski, first elected in 2018.

The race for the wide open Key West-based District 3 board member is between Gabrielle Brown and Darren Horan.

County Judge

Albert “Al” Kelley and Jason R. Smith are running for this opening on the Monroe County Courthouse bench.

Early voting details

Early voting in the Keys began Monday and it ends on Saturday. Early voting sites will be open 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. There are five locations you can vote early in the Keys:

  • 530 Whitehead St. #101 in Key West

  • 10015 Overseas Highway in Marathon

  • 102050 Overseas Highway #137 in Key Largo

  • 31009 Atlantic Dr. at the end of Sands Road in Big Pine Key

  • The Islamorada Branch Library, 81830 Overseas Highway, in the Village of Islamorada

You can return vote-by-mail ballots at drop boxes located at all five locations.

Referendums

There is one countywide question on the ballot asking voters if they support the enactment over the next four years of an added property tax of “no more than” .5625 mill to raise money for enhanced security measures at Keys public schools.

This would be about 56 cents for every $1,000 of taxable assessed property value. So, the primary owner of a home with an assessed value of $450,000 would pay around $252 on the property tax bill.

The Middle Keys city of Marathon has two referendums, both pertaining to its five-member at-large city council elections.

  • Should council members’ terms change from three to four years, and term limits from six to eight years. That initiative also asks if voters want to require an empty council vacancy fulfillment to result in not more than three seats up for election on any ballot.

  • Should there be a rule that there are never more than four or more candidates up for election on a given ballot by having the election winner with the fewest votes serve a shorter term, “if necessary, to maintain an election cycle of always less than four seats.”

There are five questions regarding amending the Key West City Charter.

  • Should the charter be amended to eliminate the requirement that the city provide blank petitions to residents who want to initiate a referendum. The question also asks if all language in the City Charter regarding specific genders be changed to gender-neutral words.

  • Should the City Charter be amended to allow for the acquisition of any property if approved by a City Commission supermajority vote. Annexation of property would remain by referendum only, the language states.

  • Should candidates for mayor or City Commission live in the city for one continuous year before running for office.

  • Should the City Charter should be amended to expand the protection against discrimation to include people’s gender identification or expression, their indifference to religion or lack of religious beliefs or their immigration status.

  • Should the City Charter be amended to remove any gender-specific language “wherever made.”

There is also a Key West referendum question not related to the City Charter that asks if the city should be authorized to lease the Key West Botanical Gardens, 5210 College Rd., for up to 99 years “exclusively for a botanical garden and arboretum, providing public access, public recreation and wildlife rehabilitation.”

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