Meet the two candidates battling to replace retiring Walton County Supervisor of Elections

DeFUNIAK SPRINGS — When Walton County Supervisor of Elections Melissa Beasley passed away following a courageous battle with leukemia, her husband, Bobby, offered to step in to serve the remainder of her term and was appointed by the governor to do just that.

That was 2003 and the governor was Jeb Bush.

Nearly 20 years and six election cycles later, Bobby Beasley has decided it is time to step down and allow for an office infusion of younger blood.

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Two men have stepped up to ask voters to consider them for the Supervisor of Elections' job, and on the face of it they couldn't be more different.

While Ryan Messer has spent 15 years in the Supervisor of Elections office and presently serves as assistant supervisor, his opponent, Dan Curry, has positioned himself as an outsider and is running on the need for change.

"I've got an outside the box looking in type of aspect," he said. "I've seen some issues."

Curry has 30 years of business experience and said he has worked from the "ground floor" up to become a vice president of purchasing for a major paint manufacturing company.

He said he's noted some voter registration and transparency issues within the Supervisor of Elections Office, and been thwarted in some of his efforts to obtain office documents through public records requests.

"I know what I'm battling," he said. "I knew I'd be the underdog."

He's also trailing by a large margin in the all important battle for campaign finance support. While Messer has raised just over $17,000, with at least some portion of it coming from Supervisor of Elections staff, Curry has accumulated less than $1,000.

Curry, however, appears to have made good use of social media, and he said he's knocking on doors and "doing most everything myself."

"I'm very optimistic," he said.

Unlike Curry, Messer has been involved in Walton County elections since he was a teenager. According to a candidate biography posted on the Supervisor of Elections website, he was setting up polling places when he was in high school.

"I think what really sets me apart is that I'm ready to go from day one," he said. "I think a lot of people consider me a younger candidate (35), but I come in with institutional knowledge, which is very important in this job."

The importance of knowing the job can't be understated, Messer said. The new Supervisor of Elections will be called upon to conduct a DeFuniak Springs municipal election in April of 2023.

"I'm already certified by the state as an elections professional," he said.

Messer became a deputy supervisor while he was attending Florida State University in 2007 and 2008. He boasts of having participated in 46 federal, state and local elections. He's also participated in seven recounts, including three state-wide counts conducted at the same time.

Curry and Messer face off Tuesday in the Republican Party primary.

This article originally appeared on Northwest Florida Daily News: Messer, Curry vying for Walton County Supervisor of Elections job