District 4 Race:
The first round of Escambia County Canvassing Board puts NPA Joe Vinson ahead of Incumbent Ashlee Hofberger by 19 votes.
- Ashlee Hofberger (Rep) 13,068
- Joe Vinson (NPA) 13,087
This morning, I spoke with Supervisor of Elections Robert Bender to understand the latest shift in election results. Bender explained that the canvassing board worked until nearly 1 a.m., reviewing provisional ballots and accepting roughly 440 countywide. His office is now preparing for military mail-in ballots and the recount of over- and under-votes.
- “We probably had somewhere around 600 to 700 ballots to go through,” said Bender, who I woke up and didn’t have all the numbers at his fingertips. “Both candidates have been out getting those cure forms for the ballots from the list that was given them.”
He said, “When the canvassing board looked at the signatures from District Four, attorneys from both sides were in the observation room, and we’d show them and show them the camera. I say pretty much everyone that was accepted or, you know, rejected was unanimous amongst the canvassing board.”
How Tuesday Ended
After initially leading in the early results, Hofberger pulled ahead by 11 votes by 8 p.m. However, when we woke Wednesday morning, her lead had shrunk to three votes.
- State Rep. Alex Andrade was in the Supervisor of Elections office as an observer for Byron Donalds’ campaign on Tuesday. He said, “There was one machine that had not updated yet from one polling place for day of.”
What’s Next
The Supervisor of Elections will begin the machine and manual recounts for District 4 on Saturday. Bender said, “Don’t know if we’ll get through both on Saturday, but we’ll definitely try.”
- The military vote-by-mail ballots are trickling in and won’t be opened until Friday, Nov. 13, so we will have to wait until then to get the official final results.
Petty Politics
At last night’s Board of County Commission meeting, Commissioner Mike Kohler read a proclamation honoring David Bear for his service on the Tourist Development Council. Hofberger refused to join the other commissioners and take a photo with David and his wife.
The commissioners voted to table any appointments to the Tourist Development Council and Library Board of Governance until December.
Refusing to be in a photo is saying more than 1000 words. It seems petty behavior is why people wanted her out in the first place. Dial back to her involvement with the library debacle.