Ryan Nicol
Boca Raton residents overwhelmingly voted to retain Scott Singer as Mayor Tuesday night, as he defeated real estate broker Bernard Korn.
Singer received 89% of the vote, with Korn earning just 11%. Singer will be reelected to a three-year term.
Singer was first elected to the Boca Raton City Council in 2014 before securing reelection in 2017. In 2018, Singer won the mayoral job in a special election.
Korn ran an outsider campaign, alleging the Boca Raton government was corrupt. All the while, the challenger simultaneously maintained a website promoting his run to be the 2020 Democratic nominee for President of the United States.
Clearly, voters felt more comfortable with Singer, who replaced Mayor Susan Haynie after she was suspended by Gov. Rick Scott following corruption charges.
And Singer has had some big wins in his brief mayoral tenure. He worked with the City Council to secure a unanimous vote on a Brightline train station, which is set to be completed in 2021.
The city will spend just over $12 million to construct a parking garage for travelers, though Brightline will handle the garage’s operating expenses. The company and city will share the profits. That station will serve as a connecting point between current stations in Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach.
Singer also secured a plan to construct a new elementary school in the city.
About three dozen municipalities inside Palm Beach County voted Tuesday as Floridians also cast their ballots for the presidential primary.
The county did struggle with campaign workers failing to show. As the Associated Press reported, 800 volunteers backed out amid concerns regarding the COVID-19 virus. Only 100 replacements were found.
Officials said poll workers were prepared to ensure sites were clean to help prevent the spread of the virus. But several sites were reportedly left understaffed because of workers backing out. The state of Ohio abruptly canceled its voting entirely.
