Pennock beats Poulalion in Seminole County supervisor of elections race on Nov. 5, 2024

SANFORD, Fla. – Amy Pennock will be the new Seminole County supervisor of elections come January.

with all precincts reporting, the former Seminole County school board member and Republican beat Democrat Deborah Poulalion 54% to 46%.

The Seminole County supervisor of elections is in charge of overseeing the office that registers people to vote, maintains voter rolls, qualifies local candidates for races, sends out vote-by-mail ballots, staffs and manages polling locations, and makes sure votes are tabulated and election results are determined with accuracy and transparency.

The supervisor has to navigate a complicated set of election laws and rules to make sure all of this is done and deal with the public, including those who question the accuracy of elections.

With incumbent Elections Supervisor Chris Anderson defeated in the August primary election, two new people ran to take his place in November: Republican Amy Pennock, and Democrat Deborah Poulalion.

Let’s meet the candidates.

[RESULTS 2024: Complete Coverage | Voter Guide for the Nov. 5 election | Here are the 6 amendments that will be on the Florida ballot in November | Everything on the ballot in Seminole County for the Nov. 5 election]

AMY PENNOCK — Campaign website

Amy Pennock is a businesswoman specializing in financial management services for companies, a certified fraud examiner, and a certified internal controls auditor. She was first elected to the Seminole County school board in 2018 and reelected without opposition in 2020. While on the school board, she served as vice chair from 2019 to 2021, and chair from 2021 to 2022.

She says she plans to use her skills to effectively and cost-efficiently manage the supervisor of elections office. She wants to build a comprehensive system for voter roll maintenance that pulls information from several government agencies, and to increase voter outreach programs. Pennock wants to conduct an audit of the existing technology infrastructure to see what cybersecurity upgrades are necessary.

Pennock beat Anderson in the Aug. 20 primary, garnering 60% of the vote.

Pennock has a section on her website that talks about her views on Florida’s voting process and election integrity concerns. She says there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud or system irregularities in the 2020 election, for instance, and she is concerned about misinformation and voter suppression as election threats. You can see those answers HERE.

DEBORAH POULALION — Campaign website

Democrat Deborah Poulalion is a senior research analyst for the Institute of Internal Auditors in Lake Mary, an international professional association that provides training, certification, standards and guidance for auditing professionals in risk management, governance, information technology, security and more. She’s lived in Seminole County since 1991 and worked on voter advocacy issues like getting early voting at Seminole State College and expanding access to voting information in Spanish.

If elected, Poulalion wants to expand early voting hours, add an early voting location at Seminole State College, get the county to approve pre-paid postage for returning vote-by-mail ballots, and add phone service in Spanish.

She promises do a better job working with cities to conduct municipal elections, improve the supervisor of elections office website so it’s more user-friendly, and promises to follow state law regarding voter roll maintenance and keeping up with technology. She also wants to do away with requiring poll watchers to wear large orange signs to distinguish them at precincts.

Poulalion says a supervisor of elections needs to be neutral and fair and should not endorse political candidates or give any preferential treatment to any candidate or party. She also supports voter ID and diligent voter roll maintenance, along with signature matching and tracking for vote-by-mail ballots. You can read more about her views HERE.

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