Jim Rosica
Current state Rep. Alan Williams, a Tallahassee Democrat, has filed to run for Leon County Supervisor of Elections in 2016, succeeding retiring supervisor Ion Sancho.
Williams, first elected to the Florida House in 2008, is term limited. He filed paperwork for the local office on Thursday, online records show.
He is chair of the Florida Legislative Black Caucus and was Democratic Whip in 2012-14.
“I am running … because I want to work every day safeguarding our county’s fair and accessible voting experience,” said Williams, 40, in a statement. “Because every vote counts, I will bring the same level of commitment and hard work that has earned overwhelming community support in the past.
“Having been elected to serve our community for eight consecutive years, I understand firsthand the significance of the fundamental right to vote,” he added. “As a state representative, … I sponsored and passed legislation to increase early voting hours and provide access to an online voter registration process.”
Williams faces only one other candidate for the office: Mark Earley, the supervisor’s voting systems manager. Earley, the son of former Tallahassee City Commissioner Debbie Lightsey, has been endorsed by Sancho.
Both will run in the shadow of Sancho, well-known in the world of elections, starting with his prominence in the 2000 presidential election challenge and subsequent recount, much of which took place in Tallahassee.
Sancho, 64, was first elected in 1988 and has been returned to office in subsequent elections. He serves as “no party affiliated” because the office in Leon County is nonpartisan; Earley and Williams did not declare a party in their filings.
The county is a Democratic stronghold in the state’s otherwise conservative Panhandle, with 100,185 registered Democrats, 52,144 Republicans and 38,648 registered as “other,” including no party.
