City-by-city: Everything you need to know about Tuesday's municipal elections
The town halls, campaigns and yard signs have all been promoted, publicized and posted. And yes, the animosity and accusations that often accompany lead-ups to elections have come forth.
All the paths lead to Election Day on Tuesday in Palm Beach County.
This year, more than a dozen municipal races across the county have automatically been decided because of lack of challengers. But nearly 220,000 voters in 17 towns, cities and villages will make important choices Tuesday. Some ballots will contain just one town council race, while others will see as many as seven ballot questions.
How do I find my Election Day polling place?
On Election Day, you must vote at the polling place that is assigned to your precinct. Your ballot will be there.
You can find your assigned precinct number and assigned polling location address either on your voter information card, sample ballot, calling the Supervisor of Elections Office at (561) 656-6200, or by visiting the precinct finder on the election website.
What time are the polls open on Election Day?
On Tuesday, polls are open from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m.
What do I need to bring to the voting site?
Florida law requires all voters to provide a valid photo and signature ID before you can vote. Acceptable forms of identification can be combined to produce photo/signature ID (example: a credit card with voter's signature along with a student ID showing voter's photo).
Acceptable photo IDs for Florida voters:
Florida driver license
Florida ID card (issued by Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles)
U.S. passport
Debit or credit card
Military ID
Student ID
Retirement center ID
Neighborhood association ID
Public assistance ID
Veteran health ID (issued by the US Department of Veterans Affairs)
Concealed weapon license
Employee ID card issued by any branch, department, agency, or entity of the federal government, the state, a county, or a municipality.
If you do not bring acceptable ID, you may still vote, however, you will be required to vote by provisional ballot, which will later be evaluated by a canvassing board for eligibility.
Here’s an overview of what will be on the ballot:
Atlantis
Atlantis’ 1,850 voters who were registered as of Feb. 1 will have just one race on their ballots.
The Group 4 race will see incumbent Michael LaCoursiere, senior vice president of a civil engineering firm, face a challenge from Paul Mozen, an internist. Both candidates have raised $200 as of Nov. 30.
Guy Motzer was unopposed for the Group 2 race and was automatically re-elected to the City Council.
Belle Glade
Two seats on the Belle Glade City Commission are up for election for the city’s 7,105 voters. For Seat A, Zayteck Marin, who was the executive secretary for the city manager, faces Stanley D. Highsmith, a U.S. Army veteran.
For Seat B, Mayor Steve B. Wilson faces Robert C. Mitchell, who founded nonprofit Muck City United. Mitchell has tried since 2018 to win election to the commission, most recently challenging Mary Ross Wilkerson in 2021.
Boca Raton
Three races in Boca Raton have already been decided because no challengers stood up to face Mayor Scott Singer, Francine Nachlas and Marc Wigder.
Instead, just one charter amendment question will be posed to Boca Raton’s 68,590 voters. It asks whether the terms of office for mayor and City Council members should increase to four years from three.
Should voters support the measure, it would extend the sitting council’s terms by one year. Terms that start in March would end in 2027, and those that currently expire in 2024 would expire the following year.
The two-term limit would remain in place.
Boynton Beach
Two seats on Boynton Beach’s City Commission are up for election. The District 2 seat has attracted four candidates, while three candidates are vying for the District 4 seat.
Incumbent District 2 Commissioner Woodrow Hay faces challenges from former City Commissioner Mack McCray, CRA Advisory Board member Joe Josemond and Bernard Wright, a community activist who came under fire last year for claiming another candidate wanted to “make this city gay.”
Aimee Kelley is seeking re-election to the District 4 seat, a race that has drawn massage therapist Danny Lee Ferrell and Thomas Ramiccio, a former Lake Worth Beach mayor.
There are 51,236 voters in the city.
Delray Beach
Residents of the “Village by the Sea” will have much to consider on their ballots. Two races will be decided and two questions will be posed to Delray Beach’s 46,583 voters.
Deputy Vice-Mayor Juli Casale faces a challenge from Rob Long, chair of the Soil and Water Conservation District and owner of a community outreach business, for Seat 2. The Seat 4 race will see Angela Burns, a teacher at Village Academy School, and Angie Gray, a former city commissioner, face off.
The first question asks voters whether to approve a bond that won’t exceed $100 million to pay for renovations to, and equipment for, the city’s police headquarters and fire stations. Another question will ask voters whether to sign off on a bond not to exceed $20 million to pay for improvements to Catherine Strong Splash Park, Miller Park and other city parks.
Highland Beach
While Mayor Douglas Hillman will serve for another term as he faced no challengers, two other commission seats are up for grabs.
The 3,885 voters in Highland Beach will decide who will be elected to a three-year term ending in 2026 between incumbent John Shoemaker and Donald S. Peters.
Another seat’s term will expire in March 2024 because former Commissioner Peggy Gossett-Seidman was elected to the Florida House of Representatives in 2022. The person who held the seat in the interim is not seeking election to the seat, but those who have stepped up are Judith M. Goldberg, Peter Kosovsky and Margarita O. Chappelear.
Hypoluxo
Three town council seats are up for election in Hypoluxo. The 2,111 eligible voters will select three candidates for a three-year term. The candidates include three incumbents — Bob Leupp, Brad Doyle and Linda Allen — and two newcomers, John B. Sochacki and Jim Deery.
Juno Beach
Voters in Juno Beach will vote for a candidate in the Town Council race and one charter amendment question. Peggy Wheeler was re-elected to Seat 3 after not drawing a challenge.
Because Jason Haselkorn’s term expires, three candidates have announced their candidacy: Marianne Hosta, Michael Moll and Aldo Rovere.
The citizen-initiated question asks the town’s 3,150 voters whether they should choose the mayor, rather than the Town Council, and if the mayor’s term should be two years.
Lake Clarke Shores
Just one Town Council race will be on the ballot for Lake Clarke Shores’ 2,738 voters. Incumbent Paul Shalhoub will face financial adviser Jonathan Maples for the election to the Group 2 seat.
President Pro Tem Gregory P. Freehold was re-elected because he did not face any challenges.
Lake Park
Following Mayor Mike O’Rourke’s resignation at the end of last year, opening the seat for election, Commissioner Roger Michaud was the only candidate to run for the seat. Therefore, the town’s 4,940 voters will be deciding just one Town Council race.
Running to fill Michaud's seat are real estate agent Patricia Leduc, U.S. Army veteran Rafael Moscoso and Judith Thomas, a science teacher at Lake Worth Middle School.
Lantana
Voters in Lantana will decide two races for Town Council and a charter amendment question.
Incumbent Mark Zeitler faces a challenge from Raymond Lastella for the Group 3 seat. Candidates for the Group 4 seat are Christopher Castle and John A. Raymer.
Karen Lythgoe did not face a challenge for the race for mayor.
The question asks the town’s 7,045 voters how to proceed if a candidate for office does not receive more than 50% of the vote. It asks whether a runoff should then occur between the two candidates who received the most votes.
Mangonia Park
The races for Seat 2 and Seat 4 have already been decided, as Town Council members Sarita C. Johnson and Kelisha Buchanan-Webb did not face challengers.
The only race Mangonia Park’s 1,001 voters will have on their ballots are for the Seat 3 election between incumbent Edward E. Smith and Lisa Davis-Quince, an insurance agent.
Ocean Ridge
Four candidates are vying for two open seats on the Ocean Ridge Town Commission: Carolyn Cassidy, Robert “Rob” Galleno, Susan Hurlburt and Martin Wiescholek. The latter two candidates are incumbents.
There are 1,605 registered voters in the town.
Palm Beach Shores
Three candidates are seeking election to two seats on the Palm Springs Town Commission: Mark Ward, and incumbents Tracy Larcher and Janet Kortenhaus.
Both incumbents have been on the commission since 2021. The town has 1,084 voters.
Palm Springs
Patricia “Patti” Waller, who was first elected to the Village Council in 1999, won her re-election bid after drawing no challengers.
The 11,425 voters in the village of Palm Springs will decide who will fill the District 4 council seat: Joni Brinkman, a principal at Urban Design Studio who was also elected in 1999, or Alberto Jordat, director of operations for the county’s Film & Television Commission.
South Bay
The 1,483 voters of South Bay will decide three elections for the City Commission.
For Seat 1, incumbent Esther E. Berry, a psychology professor at Palm Beach State College, faces John Brockman, a self-employed contractor. Berry sat on the City Commission for two years in the 1970s and was re-elected in the early 2000s.
The Seat 3 commissioner Taranza McKelvin, a guidance counselor for the school district who was first appointed to the commission in 2013, is challenged by Barbara King, who runs a local nonprofit.
And Seat 5 will see a newcomer in either Albert L. “Church Boy” Polk, a pastor and radio DJ, or George Sandiford, who is retired.
Tequesta
With Rick Sartory automatically winning the special election to the Village Council after Council Member Aaron Johnson resigned, Tequesta’s 4,887 voters will only be making choices for six charter amendment questions, plus one bond question.
The first charter question asks if council members’ terms should increase to three years from two, and if council members are able to serve up to three consecutive terms.
Question two, if approved, would require any candidate running for Village Council to have resided in the village for at least one continuous year before being eligible to qualify for office.
The third question asks voters if the town should get rid of runoff elections for tied elections and instead resolve the tie through the drawing of lots.
The fourth question would allow a temporary Village Council member to be appointed until the following election in the event that a council member dies, resigns or is removed from office. It would therefore eliminate the need for a special election.
Question five proposes that voters be asked by referendum before the council considered dissolving, abolishing or outsourcing the village’s police or fire rescue departments.
The sixth question, as described by Village Clerk Lori McWilliams, “is a housekeeping item to clean up grammatical text inconsistencies throughout the Charter, and to make non-substantive and other grammatical edits, such as adding a map to depict the Village’s legal description, adding footnote citations to relevant state law, referencing 21st-century technology like electronic documents (versus paper documents), relocating existing text within the Charter to remove the current ‘miscellaneous’ section, acknowledging the existence and applicability of state and county ethics laws, and other miscellaneous clarifying language that does not alter the substance of the Charter.”
Finally, the village’s bond question asks voters if it can issue bonds not exceeding $10 million to help buy land that is environmentally sensitive, waterfront, meant for recreation or open spaces, to preserve archaeological or historic spaces, for traffic mitigation or recreational capital improvements.
Palm Beach Post staff writers Jasmine Fernandez, Valentina Palm and Lianna Norman contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Palm Beach County elections: What you need to know about municipal races
