By Justin George and Jessica Vander Velde, Times Staff Writers
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Hillsborough County Elections Supervisor Earl Lennard talks with Sylvia Gonzalez outside the West Tampa Convention Center after she voted Tuesday. “We knew we couldn’t control what was out there,” Lennard said of the weather
TAMPA — Voters braved heavy rains, lightning and back-to-school traffic in Tuesday's primary, obstacles Hillsborough County's election office handled smoothly after years of turbulence.
Countywide, 18 percent or 119,429 voters had cast ballots out of 666,642 registered voters, with 89 percent of precincts reporting. Absentee and early votes were almost half of that.
In 2006, a comparable midterm primary, 20 percent voted.
Voters on Tuesday complained of rain and 44 new precinct locations. Others fought traffic from the first day of public school and Hillsborough Community College. It was also the University of South Florida's second day back.
Lightning struck two polling sites: the River of Life Church in Lutz and Epiphany of Our Lord Church in Tampa.
In Lutz, bolts struck a cypress tree and damaged polling deputy Miguel Vazquez's truck. No one was injured, he said, and it didn't interrupt voting. At Epiphany of Our Lord, power was knocked out, but the voting machines had backup batteries.
"This is Florida," voter Ann Dolgin of Davis Islands said. "The only thing that would keep us away is a hurricane."
Occasionally, a machine jammed. One worker couldn't find the ballots early at a Riverview location. Power temporarily went out at a Temple Terrace location. But no voters were turned away.
"We knew we couldn't control what was out there," Supervisor of Elections Earl Lennard said of the weather. "What we could control, we could plan for."
It was Lennard's first major test after overseeing a Jan. 26 state House District 58 special primary.
Gov. Charlie Crist appointed the former Hillsborough schools superintendent in July 2009 after Phyllis Busansky, a former county commissioner, died of natural causes while holding the elections office.
In November 2008, Busansky defeated embattled incumbent Buddy Johnson, who the FBI investigated for spending irregularities and whose office had been plagued by election day mishaps.
In comparison, Tuesday was trouble-free.