Boasting 21 years of experience, Scott Farrington wants to return to the Supervisor of Elections office.
By Johannes Werner
Original Air Date: July 17, 2024
Host: Scott Farrington was the No. 2 at the Manatee County Supervisor of Elections office, and he was going to be the handpicked successor of Mike Bennett, the former Republican state senator and Supervisor of Elections of many years. When Bennett retired before the end of his term, he made it clear he wanted the governor to appoint Farrington. But Ron DeSantis had different plans. So now Farrington is campaigning from outside the office against James Satcher, the governor-appointed Supervisor. He was interviewed by WSLR’s Surreal News show host Lew Lorrini.
Johannes Werner: Farrington makes his experience in election management the core of his campaign pitch. He began to work in 2003 for the Supervisor of Elections in Sarasota as a college student and temp employee. He was eventually invited to apply for a full-time job. Since then, he has spent 21 years in elections management in Sarasota and Manatee County. Here’s what Farrington had to say about the governor’s appointment of Satcher, who resigned as Manatee County commissioner:
Scott Farrington: I thought I had a pretty good chance of it, especially considering the experience. But in the end I did not get it. And the only thing I can say is … I’ve heard, like I said, some of the same rumors that I’m sure you’ve heard and other people have heard about some local special interests that asked the governor’s office to appoint Satcher. And I don’t know a whole lot more than that, other than I think he had some more political friends, bigger political friends than I did.
Scott Farrington
JW: In a phone interview with WSLR News, James Satcher — an ordained minister with no experience in managing elections — brought up God repeatedly. He responded that Ron DeSantis “was looking for a conservative. I’m a Christian. I met some great people, I did some great things.” Satcher added that Farrington did have support from state senators.
Just after assuming office in April, Satcher appeared before the Manatee County Commission. Satcher asked for, and his former peers granted him, an additional $840,000. In the interview with WSLR News, Satcher said the biggest reason for his ask was election integrity. He needed equipment that allowed for election audits independent of the company that makes the tabulator. He also wants to encourage people to vote in person. And – bigger picture – he suggests the Manatee County Supervisor needs to catch up financially. The Sarasota County Supervisor of Elections has a budget of $10 million, but Manatee has only $3 million.
But Farrington suggests Satcher’s ask was missing detail.
James Satcher
SF: He asked for that additional money for the rest of the fiscal year, which was four months. So he asked for over three quarters of a million dollars to get him through a four month period of time. So it’s even a little worse than it originally sounds when you look at the time frame. And part of the problem with the request was that there was almost no detail on what he wanted to use it for. He said there was a few things he wanted to do, like he wants new remote offices; he wants a new early voting site; he wanted to buy this security software, but there was nothing that said, “This is how much any of this is going to cost” or where are these new sites going to be, or how much was the rent for the new sites. There was practically no detail.
JW: Farrington also attacked Satcher’s handling of the resignation of Manatee School Board member Richard Tatem. Satcher determined no election was needed this year, and that Tatem’s successor should be appointed by the governor. A would-be candidate sued, but a Manatee County judge ruled against him. Still, Farrington says Satcher failed to take one important step, and the Supervisor will be on the hook for that in an appeal.
SF: What I think that he made a mistake on was, he’s relying on outside counsel’s opinion on how he dealt with it, whereas what I believe should have happened when this first came up — which was a while ago, when, when Richard Tatum first filed, yeah, yeah, it was, it was in April, if I don’t remember the exact date, but it was definitely in April — at that point, a request should have been made to the Division of Elections for an official opinion and, by state law, the Division of Elections is the only entity that is legally allowed to issue a legally binding opinion to a supervisor of elections on any election law specific question, which this is definitely that.
And so what that would have done, it would have given time for people to know what was going to happen. As it was in the middle of qualifying before Satcher actually released that he wasn’t going to open it. So it would have given time for people to know what was going to happen, challenge what was going to happen. And more importantly, it actually puts the state as being the ones that issued that legally binding opinion. And then at that point, it’s the state’s responsibility to defend that opinion. It’s not the supervisor’s office. Whereas now, Satcher’s relying on an opinion that he got from an attorney that he paid for and is now required to legally defend it.
JW: Satcher responded that “It’s easy for the man in the stand to criticize the man in the arena”, and that the judge’s ruling confirmed his decision was correct.
The next supervisor of elections will be picked in the Aug. 20 Republican primaries. Only registered Republicans will be allowed to vote because a write-in ghost candidate is blocking access of independents and Democrats to that election.
To listen to the full interview with Scott Farrington on Surreal News, go to WSLR.org, click on “Archive” and look for last Friday’s Surreal News.
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