Jacob Ogles
Accusations of ballot box stuffing will delay any release of results for a straw poll conducted by the Republican Party of Sarasota on Saturday.
“The results of the straw poll conducted during the rally are still being worked on,” reads an official press release from organizers. “The Republican Party of Sarasota Executive Committee will be meeting Sunday to ensure the integrity of the vote count before releasing the final results.”
Organizers of the Sarasota event confirmed a local backer of gubernatorial candidate Ron DeSantis obtained extra ballots and encouraged supporters to cast more than one vote.
Elizabeth Cuevas-Neunder, a member of the Sarasota County Republican Executive Committee, admits she grabbed and handed out approximatley 15 ballots to people at sitting with or around her at the Sarasota event. But she says no one voted twice, and that any problem should be attributed to poor event organization.
“What happened was instead of giving people ballots, they didn’t do that. They were forcing people to get pies first,” Cuevas-Neunder said.
Cuevas-Neunder, also the founder and CEO of the Puerto Rican Chamber of Commerce of Florida and a former candidate for governor, says Spanish-speaking attendees of Sarasota’s straw poll were not properly informed of the process for getting a ballot.
When she learned she couldn’t get a ballot without standing in a long line for pies, Cuevas-Neunder says she went to the table and asked a volunteer to provide ballots for her and her friends.
Two years ago, organizers for the grassroots rally used a system where individuals had their hands stamped once they voted in the straw poll. That helped ensure every individual voted only once. But it also meant individuals could come to the event, vote and leave.
But Joe Gruters, chairman of the Republican Party of Sarasota, said party leaders this year wanted to make sure people stayed at the rally for a longer time, especially with the bigger name candidates like DeSantis, Adam Putnam and U.S. Senate candidate Rick Scott slated to speak during the last hour of the event.
So instead, attendees were promised free slices of pie from Yoder’s Restaurant if they stayed at the rally. Ballots were handed out when individuals got a slice of pie.
“Some people,” Gruters said, “got more pie than others.”
Cuevas-Neunder, though, says she didn’t get seconds—or firsts. “I don’t eat sweets,” she said.
Officials with Putnam’s campaign told Florida Politics multiple eyewitnesses reported ballot-stuffing by DeSantis backers, forcing event organizers to huddle and discuss the integrity of results.
“The D.C. DeSantis camp displayed the worst of Washington today—willing to cheat and lie for political points,” said Putnam spokeswoman Meredith Beatrice. “We thank the event organizers for taking this issue seriously.”
Cuevas-Neunder did vote for DeSantis in the poll, she said, though she is not an official part of the campaign. She listed problems she had with Putnam’s treatment of Puerto Rican farmers after the hurricane and also holds him responsible for failing to protect the environment and coasts from Big Sugar interests.
Some organizers expressed frustration at a confusing end to an otherwise successful event.
“We’re thrilled to have had such an great turnout and see so much positive energy among the Republican base in our community,” said Jack Brill, vice chairman of the Republican Party of Sarasota.
More than 1,200 attendees filled Robarts Arena in Sarasota to hear from 41 candidates, included all the major Republicans running for statewide office.
At the same event, left-wing protesters disrupted a speech by Scott.
Cuevos-Neunder said she should not be held responsible for questions about the straw poll’s integrity and blamed poor organization. “Everyone in there was voting DeSantis,” she said. “See if he wins by 15 votes. I didn’t give out more than 15.”
17 comments
Betty Miller
July 28, 2018 at 11:27 pm
I was at the rally (my first!) and sadly, saw far more than 15 extra ballots handed out. Mrs. C-N handed me one, too, but when I asked a ballot keeper if voting twice was ok, he emphatically said no.
Mrs. C-N didn’t seem malicious, more embarrassingly over-enthusiastic in her support for her candidate. I was also disappointed to see several like-minded DeSantis supporters rudely disrupt Commissioner Putnam’s 5 minute chance to speak by standing and waving their candidate’s signs. We are all, after all, supposed to share similar conservative goals. Such rabid devotion certainly destroyed the event’s polling integrity, and some of our solidarity. Mr. DeSantis should take responsibility. Hard to do from Washington DC I guess.
Elizabeth Cuevas Neunder
July 29, 2018 at 10:26 am
Betty Miller, you are a Lier, let’s take a polygraph test. I don’t know who you are, in my table was 6 people and about 3 on the high seat. The question is who was doing what? Maybe was you who voted more than once? I voted once. God will annotate the deserving one. Shame on you.
Michelle Cook
July 29, 2018 at 12:43 am
Wow, not everyone was Voting for DeSantis for one, another man running for Governor was Bruce Nathan and he was totally discriminated against and kept from even speaking at the event, mr. Nathan was allowed to have a table and hand out his information and greet people but was not allowed to speak at an event for Republican candidates. This is a very sad day and very sad information that Ron DeSantis would pull this trick in this game and yet other candidates who take Florida very seriously whose whole heart is for the State of Florida and its people and making sure that education water safety economics jobs everything is covered and and fixed and the problems are solved is what Bruce Nathan is all about yet he was kept from meeting and greeting people on the stage or telling people who he is and what he’s about and yet the other candidates do something so wrong as stuffing The Ballot Box all I can say is wow and maybe people out there need to check out Bruce Nathan let’s make Florida great again thank you.
Kari
July 29, 2018 at 2:09 am
What I would like to know, is why did every candidate get a chance to speak EXCEPT BRUCE NATHAN?! Running for FL Governor. Oh, because he will end the corruption in FL?! Because he has real life SOLUTIONS??!! This is a story you should publish as well m look into Bruce Nathan at http://www.brucenathan2018.com
You will see why no one allowed him to speak. The ” Republican Party” should be ashamed!!
Elizabeth Cuevas Neunder
July 29, 2018 at 10:28 am
Betty Miller, you are a Lier, let’s take a polygraph test. I don’t know who you are, in my table was 6 people and about 3 on the high seat. The question is who was doing what? Maybe was you who voted more than once? I voted once. God will annotate the deserving one. Shame on you.
Jeffrey E Ehrlich MD
July 29, 2018 at 4:40 pm
Ms. Neunder,
“Lier” refers to someone who lies in wait, i.e., to ambush. I presume that the word you meant to use was”liar.” If you are looking for honesty in Trump’s Republican Party, you will be disappointed. Florida is facing severe long term problems. Despite glowing promises from the lottery lobbyists years ago, our public schools are failing to properly educate our children, and the schools suffer from lack of upkeep. Brand new schools need “portables” from the time they open, and those structures remain where they’re placed for decades. Our educational system is far worse than it was before the lottery and far, far worse than it was when I attended public school from 1950-1963. For the majority of that time, I was in new buildings and had new, up to date text books. My grandchildren are not so lucky. Schools are in disrepair. Bathrooms are so disgusting that kids try to avoid using them at all. Perhaps if all voters were required to use these facilities there would be improvements.
As I write this, many of our lakes suffer from toxic algae caused by corporate agricultural abuse of our environment. The Republican Party continues to ignore the threat that global warming presents to our coasts, by denying the scientific evidence so that the fossil fuel industry can continue to enrich itself. As I write this today, July 29, 2018, the majority of the US is suffering from record breaking heat and tens of thousands have been displaced by fires aggravated by record heat, while close to a million were displaced by a Cat. 5 hurricane last summer. In addition we’ve had record floods in Texas and other areas, too numerous to mention. Almost every night the nightly news reports extreme weather events. To those who are young, this is something new. There were reports of severe weather, but it was not a daily event. New record high temperatures are now happening at a rate twice that of new record lows, which common sense would tell you that our climate is changing, but the party glibly ignores what is happening, by saying something like, “Well, I’m not a scientist,” while ignoring what scientists are saying. Then there are those who point out the comments of scientists paid by the fossil fuel industry “to study the climate,” who say that this is just normal variation. Give me a few million each year and I will join them. This is just a tiny part of the political lies put forth endlessly, and you are upset about a straw vote which has no consequences. LOL!!! 🤥🤥🤥
Elizabeth Cuevas Neunder
August 10, 2018 at 1:24 pm
Sr. Jeffrey E Ehrlich MD,
Pardon my Spanglish, you are right, in all counts, but also when you give to an organization for 27 years and you see the odio, and malicia that impacted others, no matter how un-important it is the issue, people has to stand for the truth and only the truth. I come from a poor family that the only good thing we have is your name, the shrine of our soul. To some people might not be important but for me it is. I don’t allowed people with bad intent to accused me of doing something I did not do, and I will not allowed anyone to do it to you either. The problems we all are inflicted with is the quality of people we have. If we don’t have self respect, who are we going to have it for? Lastly, If you have candidates who frame people who are innocent, what do you expect of them doing when they are elected? I have been investigating, and all those who counted the ballots were Putnam people, DeSantis did not had anyone present. I dear to think, like many others, they did not like the results after working so hard for the outcome. Bravo, I am happy to tell to my Spanish speaking community that Putnam people are not to be trusted, can you imagine them holding jobs and we taxpayers paying for it?
Garrett Ramy
July 29, 2018 at 6:36 am
What people will do for a slice of pie-
There is another factor that occurred. The establishment Republicans are still in control. They refused to allow candidate Bruce Nathan For Governor to speak. Then they forced Mr. Nathan to share his booth with a candidate from the school board. Bruce Nathan For Governor is a threat to the establishment.
Capt Matt Bruce Ret
July 29, 2018 at 10:14 am
Bruce Nathan was interviewed LIVE on our radio broadcast. Every Candidate was invited to do the same. Some didn’t but everyone had a chance to be heard on the radio…
Kim tosti
July 29, 2018 at 8:15 pm
Broken record Capt Matt.
All canadites should have been allowed to speak, not just the swamp.
Elizabeth Cuevas Neunder
July 29, 2018 at 10:35 am
I understand your point. In 28 years plus in our Republican Party in Sarasota has been plagued by a small group of swamp creatures. When I was a candidate in 2014 a fundraising was done when in the primaries supposed to be neutral. The same people. I have been in our Party for more than 28 years and we have problems with a handful. We continue working for the good of Our Constitution and the protection of our Republican Party.
Alex
July 29, 2018 at 9:05 pm
Pies. I can’t.
Votes before pies!
Molly E Bowen
July 29, 2018 at 8:27 am
Bruce Nathan (for Governor) was on the ballot, he should have been allowed to speak.
Period!
Patricia Ann Griffeth
July 29, 2018 at 8:32 am
What is truly sad is that you have the establishment doing dirty things like this and nothing will be done about it. His supporters were rude and down right disrespectful. However, Florida does have another CANDIDATE for GOVERNOR and that is Bruce Nathan. The first person to register, in person to Tallahassee and qualify. His numbers are up in the polls and has every right to be able to have his VOICE HEARD. It was sad and disgusting that they WILL NOT give Bruce Nathan equal speaking time. I am a 4th generation Floridian and have NEVER been more disappointed in my party. Shame on you all for not giving those who qualified the same time to speak or even the opportunity. WE THE PEOPLE have a right to hear ALL candidate choices. Please check out and let the citizens of Florida know that WE do have another choice. WITH REAL SOLUTIONS.
Brucenathan2018.com
Capt Matt Bruce Ret
July 29, 2018 at 10:10 am
We were there broadcasting LIVE from 10:30 AM to 2 PM. We gave every candidate 5 minutes to come on the air & tell us about themselves. Before, during & after the Event, I looked around watching all the activity going on. First I believe this was one if the BEST Events the RPOS ever had! Secondly, I heard nothing but positive remarks from the attendees & candidates. Kudos to Joe Gruters, Jack Brill & all who were involved in putting together this Candidate Rally & Straw Poll. Yes, I got to cast ONE vote! God bless America…
Joe Rammey
July 29, 2018 at 1:55 pm
When interviewing, please interview someone that is stable. She is still bitter because she was not offered a leadershiprole on Trumps campaign. This person is a crackpot.
Kim tosti
July 29, 2018 at 8:11 pm
Capt Matt, it seems you’re still lacking a valid reason in not letting all candidates have equal time. You can repeat the radio access all you want, but it still smells very fishy.
Comments are closed.