Collecting the highest number of votes without reaching a majority, Diane Velazquez and Yesenia “Jesi” Baron will compete in the December 8 Apopka City Council runoff election for Seat 2.
Velazquez, a retired NYPD police officer and former Apopka city commissioner from 2014-2018, earned the highest number of total votes with 10,366 (42.47 percent). Baron, also a retired police officer, trailed second in the votes with a total 6,195 (25.38 percent).
Gene Knight, a retired U.S. Army veteran and warehouse and store manager, came in third at 4,036 (16.54 percent). Nick Nesta, owner of a real estate consulting firm, finished fourth at 3,809 total votes (15.61 percent).
In the hotly contested presidential election, the nation still awaited final results as of early afternoon on Thursday, November 5.
The total eligible voters in the Apopka City Council election were 58,083. The total over/under votes were 2,776 for the Tuesday, November 3, Election Day.
Alice Nolan had served two years of her four-year term in Seat 2 when she vacated it due to her diagnosis and treatment for lung cancer. This put into effect a requirement in the city charter that a special election for her successor must be held within 60 days.
All total votes include Election Day, early voting and vote-by-mail ballots, and were recorded as of 9:05 a.m. on Thursday, November 5.
Apopka had 17 precincts in the Tuesday, November 3, election.
According to the Orange County Supervisor of Elections Office, on November 3, Orange County had a total of 876,448 registered voters: Democrats – 379,707; Republicans – 224,928; other – 13,452; and no party affiliation – 258,361.
All those who are eligible to vote in the runoff election between Velazquez and Baron, and who requested a vote-by-mail ballot for the November 3 election, will be automatically mailed one for the December 8 runoff election as well.
However, those who voted in person or early in the November 3 election can still request a vote-by-mail ballot for the December 8 runoff by Saturday, November 28, at 5 p.m.
Early voting for the December 8 runoff will be held for a short time – November 30 through December 4 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day – only at the Orange County supervisor of elections office at 119 W. Kaley St., Orlando. There will be no early voting in Apopka.
On December 8, voting for the Seat 2 runoff between Velazquez and Baron will be held from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the two municipal precincts, one at the Apopka Community Center/VFW, 519 S. Central Avenue, and one at the city of Apopka recreation offices at the Northwest Recreation Complex, 3710 Jason Dwelley Parkway.
The full story appears starting on page 1A of the Friday, November 6, issue of The Apopka Chief. Subscribe today!
