In two weeks, voters will decide who guards Sarasota County’s ‘constitution’

The Charter Review Board elections are some of the lowest-profile on the ballot—but the panel can exert power.

By Ed James III

Original Air Date: October 22, 2026

Host: The Charter Review Board is the beholder of Sarasota County’s “constitution.” It has been 100% Republican for many years, and—deserved or not—it has a reputation of rubber-stamping developer interests. Its races rarely get much attention, but in less than two weeks, voters will decide who guards the county’s charter. WSLR News reporter Ed James III has the story on the seats on the ballot and the candidates seeking them.

Ed James III: It’s one of the lowest-profile elections on the ballot, but the board at stake can shape the rules that govern the entire county.

2020 vote stickers | Photo via Creative Commons

The Charter Review Board’s role is to propose amendments or improvements to the county charter. It has 10 members, two from each county commission district, serving staggered four-year terms. Every member is elected countywide, and they serve without pay. The board proposes changes to the county charter, and it takes a two-thirds vote of the board to send an amendment to voters.

Sarasota is the only county in Florida with an elected board overseeing its charter.

The charter covers election rules and the powers of public officials. It also contains land-use rules and development plans – embodied in the comprehensive plan – including a requirement that county commissioners muster a supermajority to increase the density or intensity of land use. Critics have accused the board of acting as a rubber stamp for a developer-friendly County Commission. And this summer, county commissioners voted unanimously to send the board’s proposed amendments back for more work after public criticism of procedural gaps.

Robin Williams

Three seats are contested on the November ballot, one each in Districts 3, 4 and 5. Candidates run by district, but every voter in the county gets to vote in all three.

Chip Adams

In District 3, Republican Chip Adams faces Democrat Jim Tate. Adams spent 34 years as a career firefighter and paramedic, 17 of them as a shift commander and battalion chief. Chip Adams’ endorsements include Sheriff Kurt Hoffman, County Commissioner Teresa Mast, two state representatives, the Suncoast firefighters’ union and three sitting board members. Tate, a licensed Realtor and 27-year county resident, wants to restore the charter’s petition process, returning the signature threshold to 5% and extending the collection window to 180 days.

Taylor Collins

In District 4, Republican Taylor Collins, a Sarasota business owner with a background in benefits and risk management, says the board should stay transparent, efficient and responsive to the public. Democrat Robin Williams, a retired biology and environmental science teacher, ran for this seat in 2024. Williams’ priorities include repealing or amending charter changes that weaken the county’s comprehensive plan, lowering the signature threshold for ballot initiatives and requiring plain-English explanations of proposed charter changes.

District 1 is already settled. Alexandra Coe, a former board member who pushed to repeal the charter’s amendment-restriction provision, won the Republican primary in August with just under half the vote, ahead of Nicholas Altier and Bill Van Allen. The race ended there.

In District 5, Republican Erin Halstead is an Englewood-area Realtor who has lived there most of her life. She has chaired the HCA Florida Englewood Hospital board and led the Englewood Chamber of Commerce, and her campaign focuses on preserving home rule and government accountability. Halstead narrowly won the August primary over Andrew Sias.

Her opponent, Democrat Andrea Doria Kale, is a retired public health researcher and IT professional who has owned a North Port home since 2015. Like the Democrats in the other two races, Kale wants to restore citizen access to the charter amendment process. She also lists protecting Sarasota Memorial Health Care System as a publicly owned institution and restricting large-scale data centers through 2032.

Andrea Doria Kale

Her top priority, she says, is stopping a proposed data center in North Port. The project is roughly 896,000 square feet, and it has packed North Port City Hall with residents. Last month, North Port commissioners approved an 18-month moratorium on new data centers, but the ordinance exempts the application already in the pipeline. Kale says she sent a proposal to the county commission the morning after that vote and that she will keep pushing on it, win or lose.

Andrea Doria Kale: My number one priority, regardless of the outcome of this election, is to stop the North Port data center applicants in its tracks before it’s too late.

EJ: Whether the Charter Review Board has any role in a decision like that is a separate question. The application is before the North Port City Commission. But Kale says she’s counting on voters to take up the fight.

ADK: I need everybody to come out against the data center.

EJ: Election Day is Tuesday, November third. For WSLR News, I’m Ed James III.

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