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Highlands Today

UPDATE: Schuler Elected AP Mayor

Strong Support Of Southside Overcomes Weakness In Northern AP For Hinson

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By Douglas  Carman | Highlands Today

Published: November 7, 2007

AVON PARK — Sharon Schuler retained the mayor's seat and Al Hinson will take over Doug Eason's city council position after both won by comfortable margins in the official count.

Out of 792 votes in the city, Schuler netted 334 votes, or 43 percent of the votes. More than 32 percent of the votes went for Hinson in the council race.

Only 17.66 percent of the voters turned out, which was well below Elections Supervisor Joe Campbell's estimates.

Schuler, the incumbent, held a large advantage throughout the city over Gordon Marshall, her closest competitor. The former mayor, with 229 votes, did little campaigning against Schuler.

The unofficial breakdown of the votes by district show Schuler clearly ahead throughout the city. For Hinson, it tells a different story.

Hinson, who said in an e-mail late Monday that he had "rides for those who need them" to reach the polling places, had an extremely strong showing in precincts 2 and 4A, which includes the southern half of the city. In the unofficial totals, the two precincts combined gave Hinson 190 of its 300 votes, compared to 51 for Michael Shirey, 32 for Paul Miller and 27 for James Rahenkamp.

On the other hand, Hinson was dead last in precincts 1 and 16A, getting only 45 votes to Miller's 147, Shirey's 106 and Rahenkamp's 77. Neither unofficial tally includes early voters and absentee ballots throughout the city.

Schuler said Tuesday that she wasn't expecting to win.

"Everyone has an opportunity to win," she said as she came to the supervisor of election's office to see the vote counting. "I'm very happy."

Reached by phone Tuesday evening before the results were official, Hinson was cautiously optimistic.
"I thought it would be close," he said. "I feel good... I guess the people went out and voted. Hopefully it's official but I am happy."

The campaigns for both elections were relatively low-key, with most candidates relying on little more than yard signs until the final week before the elections. In both elections, the candidates mostly campaigned on economic development and on reducing the city's budget, although code enforcement, open government issues and opposition to a fire assessment placed on churches also came up sometimes.

Official Election Results
Registered Voters in Avon Park: 4,484
Total Votes: 792 (18 percent turnout)
Absentee ballots - 17
Early Voters - 94

Votes for Mayor:
Ed Dickerson - 163 (21 percent)
Gonzalo Lezama - 49 (6 percent)
Gordon Marshall - 229 (30 percent)
Sharon Schuler - 334 (43 percent)
under votes* - 17
Votes for City Council:
Al Hinson - 257 (33 percent)
Paul Miller - 205 (26 percent)
James Rahenkamp - 144 (18 percent)
Michael Shirey - 181 (23 percent)
under votes* - 5

*under votes include ballots where all the selections for that particular election were left blank[/box]

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