Gainesville Mayor and City Commissioner Election Begins Early Voting Today

My home city of Gainesville is holding an election on Tuesday, March 19th to determine its mayor as well as the District 4 commissioner...here, the mayor also serves as a commissioner.  Incumbent mayor Lauren Poe is running for reelection...so is commissioner Adrian Hayes-Santos in District 4.  I don't live in that district, so I'll just be voting in the mayor's race. There's also a question on the ballot as to whether to institute a city charter review panel, to be appointed by the commission...

I don't particularly care for any politician who, when elected, begins to get preachy and condescending toward the very people for whom he or she should be respectfully acting as a public servant...in my opinion, Mayor Poe is one of these.  No, we citizens of Gainesville don't need to be talked down to as children...we should want a mayor who can lead the commission and focus on passing legislation that makes this fair city of ours work better and avoid getting caught up in social engineering and political correctness.  The previous mayor, a conservative, in spite of his personal issues was able to perform his duties as such a public servant as well as provide counterarguments to the other overwhelmingly liberal commissioners' proposals.  I believe we need at least one conservative on this commission to provide a better sense of reality and priority there...that's why I plan to vote for Jennifer Reid to replace Lauren Poe as mayor.  Organized labor seems to be supporting Jenn Powell, and Marlon Bruce is the remaining candidate.  In District 4, Robert Mounts will be challenging the incumbent...I would be voting for him were I residing in that district.  As for the city charter question, I'll probably vote for it unless some questions arise in the next few days about it...

I always vote on election day, but early voting has begun today and will last through next Saturday, the 16th.  The closest location to me for early voting is the Millhopper library on NW 43rd Street.  There's a good chance that in the mayoral election no one will garner a majority of votes...should that happen a runoff election will be scheduled for later...