City commission changes its mind, decides it can run its own elections

ALACHUA - The city of Alachua has decided it wants to run its own elections after all.

In November, the city had written to the Alachua County Supervisor of Elections, saying the city has grown to a point that the county would be best equipped to handle the election.

This came after an elections lawsuit exposed a number of mistakes to which city officials admitted making. Even Alachua City Commissoner James Lewis, who won the election by 18 votes, admitted to asking for help with his campaign from a city employee using city equipment.

Even though the lawsuit was tossed out of court on a technicality, the lawsuit has been appealed.

Monday, the city commission voted unanimously to keep running its own elections, saying that letting the county run the elections would hurt the city and its residents.

With the city running its own elections, residents get to vote at one of three locations -- the fire department, the rec center and at the country club in Turkey Creek.

If the county runs the elections, the fire department would no longer be a polling place, commissioners said.

Further, with the city running the elections, people can pick up absentee ballots at City Hall and even vote at city hall. If the county runs the election, residents would have to get their absentee ballots from an office in Gainesville.

Additionally, with the city running the elections, the canvassing board can count the absentee ballots the night of the election. If the county runs the elections, the ballots get counted in Gainesville and are not necessarily ready the night of elections.

"I, personally, don't think the city has gotten big enough for us to hand over the elections to the county," Vice Mayor Gib Coerper said. "It would de-personalize the elections for our residents."

Coerper said he and the other commissioners are not blind to the previous election and know that the city needs to do a better job.

"We asked the city manager to go over it with a fine tooth comb," Coerper said. "What are we doing and how can we do it better?"