Election Day: Five Brevard County communities elect new leaders Tuesday
Voters in five Brevard County communities elected office holders Tuesday with both incumbents and newcomers winning races.
Incumbent Rockledge city councilwoman Sammie Brown Martin edged out a victory against challenger Josiah Gattle Tuesday. Martin won 50.2% of the vote to Gattle's 49.8% of the vote. According to the Brevard County Supervisor of Elections office, 4,447 Rockledge voters turned out for Tuesday's election.
More: Incumbent Sammie Martin retains council seat in Rockledge race with partisan support
Although local elections are non-partisan, both candidates had the backing of their respective parties. Martin is a Democrat and Gattle a Republican.
"I anticipated a larger lead, but a win is a win and I'm excited and grateful to be able to serve another term," Martin said when reached for comment Tuesday evening.
Brevard Republican Executive Committee chairman Rick Lacey said that overall Republicans had a good day in the county but he was "disappointed" with the results in Rockledge.
In Cape Canaveral Incumbent Don Willis retained his seat on the City Council in Tuesday's municipal elections in Brevard County while Kay Jackson won the second open seat in the three-way race.
Willis was the top vote getter with 859 while Jackson got 773 votes. Steven Stroud, the race's other challenger, came in third with 581.
More: Cape Canaveral elections: Don Willis and Kay Jackson win in three-way race for two seats
Adam Dyer and Hamilton Boone emerged as the winners Tuesday in the races for Indian Harbour Beach City Council.
Dyer defeated Douglas Vincent Torpy and David Nutt for the Seat 1 position. Dyer received 586 votes (38.10%), compared with 553 votes (35.96%) for Torpy and 399 votes (25.94%) for Nutt.
Boone edged out Susan Ruimy for the Seat 2 position, according to the unofficial results. Boone received 782 votes (50.52%), compared with 766 votes (49.48%) for Ruimy. Ruimy had been leading when the vote-by-mail results were posted, but Boone had a big enough advantage during in-person voting on Election Day to pull ahead.
More: Dyer, Boone win City Council races in Indian Harbour Beach, where there were no incumbents
Retired corporate and commercial litigation attorney Alison "Al" Dennington has been elected mayor of Melbourne Beach, defeating Town Commissioner Joyce D. Barton, in the culmination of aggressive campaigns by both candidates.
Dennington received 666 votes (51.11%), compared with 637 votes (48.89%) for Barton.
In the Melbourne Beach town commissioner race, Adam Meyer defeated Jason Judge. Meyer received 820 votes (63.13%), compared with Judge's 479 votes (36.87%).
More: Dennington elected mayor of Melbourne Beach, defeating Town Commissioner Barton
Out of three possible candidates for two open seats this year, Jeffrey Grunow and Elaine VanBerschot were elected to sit on the Barefoot Bay Recreation District's board of trustees
The board is the governing body that oversees municipal management for the South Brevard County community.
Voter turnout was about 24.5% of the eligible voters in the communities with elections.
Brevard County Supervisor of Elections Tim Bobanic said 21 votes have not been counted yet.
Seventeen involve mismatches between signatures on file with his office and the signatures on the vote-by-mail envelopes. They include 10 in Rockledge; four in Indian Harbour Beach; and one each in Barefoot Bay, Cape Canaveral and Melbourne Beach.
Four are "provisional ballots," including three in which voters did not present the proper identification at the polling places. There were two provisional ballots in Cape Canaveral, and one each in Barefoot Bay and Rockledge.
Bobanic said those issues would be resolved on Thursday.
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Election Day: Five Brevard County communities elect new leaders Tuesday
