Florida election controversy: Candidate name on Pasco polling building
Candidate's name on polling location building
Wilton Simpson won the Republican primary for Florida Agriculture Commissioner, beating Matt the Welder Taylor from Plant City. But, there was a dust-up over the voting itself when voters of one polling place found themselves casting ballots in a building named after Simpson. FOX 13's Evan Axelbank reports.
PASCO COUNTY, Fla. - Voters who arrived at a polling place at Pasco-Hernando State College arrived to find the name of one of the candidates on the outside of the building.
Election day building dispute
What we know:
The Pasco-Hernando State College STEM building is named for Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson, who secured $25 million in funding for the project, which houses the school's EMS and robotics departments.
The Pasco County Elections Supervisor, Brian Corley, is promising it won't be a problem in November.
The Wilton Simpson Science and Innovation Center was unveiled in June, with a press release saying the $25 million he delivered to their STEM program was critical.
The school says it agreed with the elections office to assign the polling place to that building, which documents called "Building K."
They used to hold elections in the gym, but wanted to change it because so many students use it for their police and fire academies.
When voters showed up on Tuesday, supporters of Simpson's primary opponent, Matt Taylor, were outraged that Simpson appeared to be getting a campaign ad well inside the usual boundaries of 150 feet.
Campaign complaints over polling place
What they're saying:
Taylor highlighted the fury one voter had in a video on his Facebook page.
"I just have to explain how ridiculous this is," the voter said in the video. "Our new voting precinct is our current Ag Commissioner, a building named after him. Tell me how this is okay. Our old voting precinct was the gymnasium at Pasco-Hernando State College right behind me. They have now changed it to the Wilton Simpson Science and Innovation Center. Tell me this is legal."
Elections supervisor Brian Corley said to FOX 13 in a statement:
"It wasn’t until Election Day that we were made aware that Building K was recently renamed to ‘The Wilton Simpson Science and Innovation Center.' Now that we are aware, we have been in contact with PHSC to move us to a different building for the General Election."
Simpson won the primary over Matt Taylor by nearly 40 points, which was by over 500,000 votes.
He won Pasco County by a similar margin, but the elections supervisor's office says they are waiting for the data from that precinct to see if he did better there than other districts in Pasco County.
The Source: The information in this story was gathered from a news statement provided to Fox 13 by Pasco County Elections Supervisor Brian Corley, public video comments shared by candidate Matt Taylor, and press documentation released by Pasco-Hernando State College.