Florida Elections: Voters To Decide On Florida Cabinet Members

FLORIDA — In addition to electing a governor and U.S. congressional representatives, Floridians are being asked to choose three members of the Florida Cabinet and decide on three constitutional amendments.

While early voting ended in Florida counties over the weekend, residents with vote-by-mail ballots have until 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 8, to turn them in. Election day polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. statewide.

If you’re not sure where to vote, you can look up your polling station here.

Attorney General

Democratic candidate Aramis Ayala is facing Republican Attorney General Ashley Moody for a chance to become a member of the Florida Cabinet.

Aramis Ayala, 47, the controversial former state attorney for Orange and Osceola counties who refused to seek the death penalty in any of her cases, was Florida's first Black state attorney. Her staunch opposition to the death penalty and her declaration that she would not impose the death penalty earned her national headlines and the NAACP Civil Rights Champion of Justice Award in 2017.

Following her four-year term as state attorney, Ayala joined the faculty in the legal studies department at the University of Central Florida as an assistant professor.

Prior to running for office, she served as a homicide and major crimes assistant state attorney and an assistant public defender. She has also held positions as an adjunct professor of law at Florida A&M University School of Law, as a legal analyst and as the chairwoman of the Citizens Police Review Board for the City of Orlando.

She describes herself as a humanitarian, civil rights advocate, cancer survivor, mother, wife and daughter of a Vietnam War veteran who grew up with parents who stressed the importance of hard work, faith and service from a young age. She was recently named the Champion of Justice by Harbor House of Central Florida for her work in the fight against domestic violence.

Republican Attorney General Ashley Moody, 47, a fifth-generation Floridian, was born and raised in Plant City. She attended the University of Florida where she earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in accounting in addition to her law degree. She later attended Stetson University College of Law earning a master's of law in international law.

She began her legal career with the law firm of Holland & Knight where she practiced commercial litigation. In her spare time, she assisted domestic violence victims seeking protection in court.

She subsequently joined the United States Attorney’s Office prosecuting drug, firearm and fraud offenses. In 2006, at the age of 31, Moody became the youngest judge in Florida when she was elected circuit court judge of the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit in Hillsborough County.

In 2019, Moody became Florida’s 38th attorney general. Since taking office she's led initiatives against human trafficking, currently serving as the chairwoman of Florida’s Statewide Council on Human Trafficking. She also successfully sued the pharmaceutical industry for its part in the opioid epidemic and has waged a war against dealers distributing deadly doses of fentanyl throughout Florida.

Chief Financial Officer

Republican Jimmy Patronis, 50, is a fourth-generation Floridian, born and raised in Panama City. He worked for years at Capt. Anderson’s, his family’s historic seafood restaurant in Panama City Beach. He earned his associate’s degree in restaurant management from Gulf Coast Community College and a bachelor’s degree in political science from Florida State University.

Patronis' public service career began with internships in the Florida Senate and the United Kingdom’s House of Commons. Following graduation, Patronis was appointed to the Florida Elections Commission, and he was later re-appointed by then-Gov. Jeb Bush. He represented Northwest Florida for eight years in the Florida House of Representatives, was appointed to serve on Florida’s Public Service Commission and the Constitution Revision Commission.

Patronis was appointed by then-Gov. Rick Scott as Florida's chief financial officer in 2017 and was elected to a four-year term in 2018.

His opponent, Democrat Adam Hattersley, 44, is originally from Boston, Massachusetts. He spent eight years in the Navy as a nuclear submarine officer and then volunteered for deployment on the ground with a U.S. Army unit during the Iraqi war, earning the Bronze Star for his service.

He moved to Riverview in 2009, working for a GE subsidiary, leading a team responsible for training and managing skilled technicians throughout the world. In 2016, he and his wife opened a small business, helping other small businesses promote themselves.

In 2018, he was elected to the Florida House where he focuses on lowering the cost of health care, veterans benefits and public education. He left the House in 2020.

Commissioner Of Agriculture

Republican Wilton Simpson, 56, is fifth-generation Floridian who was born in Lakeland and raised in Trilby in Pasco County. A lifelong Florida farmer, he owns a large-scale egg-laying operation that supplies eggs for Florida’s families through supermarkets across the state.

He was elected to the Florida Senate in 2012, and served as Senate majority leader from 2016 to 2018. He was elected Senate president on Oct. 15, 2019, and served on the Joint Legislative Budget Commission, the Senate Appropriations Committee, the Senate Rules Committee and the Innovation, Industry and Technology Committee until his term in office ended in 2020.

His Democratic opponent, Naomi Esther Blemur, of North Miami, is the committeewoman for the Miami-Dade Democratic Executive Committee in District 15. She's the granddaughter of farmers in Haiti, and was born to teenage parents at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami and subsequently charged with raising her three younger siblings, including a child born with Down syndrome, at the age of 21.

Blemur earned a bachelor's degree from Cuny University of New York - Queens College and worked in the retail industry and commercial banking before resigning from corporate America to establish a nonprofit focused on women's issues and at-risk girls aging out of the foster care system.

On Election Day

Voters who wait until election day must vote in the polling place assigned to their precinct.

To avoid delays at the polling place, voters should bring one or two forms of current identification that include their signature and photo. Without proper identification, residents may still vote a provisional ballot, which will later be evaluated by a canvassing board for eligibility.

Any of the following forms of photo identification are acceptable:

• Florida driver's license
• Florida ID card issued by the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles
• U.S. passport
• Debit or credit card
• Military ID
• Student ID
• Retirement center ID
• Neighborhood association ID
• Public assistance ID
• Veteran health ID issued by the Veterans Administration
• Concealed weapons license
• Government employee ID

If your photo ID does not include your signature, you will be asked to provide another ID that has your signature.

See related stories:

• FL Governor's Election 2022: DeSantis, Crist Tour State To Sway Voters
• Jailed For Role In Capitol Siege, Candidate Runs For FL House
• Aramis Ayala Will Challenge GOP Attorney General Ashley Moody In Fall

If you received a vote-by-mail ballot but have decided to vote in person instead, your vote-by-mail ballot will be canceled.

When you arrive at the polls:

1. Check in with your valid and current photo and signature ID.
2. Receive your paper ballot and proceed to a privacy booth.
3. Using the black pen provided, completely fill in the oval next to each of your selections.
4. Review your ballot. If you wish to make changes, request another ballot.
5. If you have any questions, ask a poll worker before you insert the ballot in the scanner. Once a ballot has been accepted, it cannot be retrieved.

If you are satisfied with your selections:

• Take your ballot to the optical scanner in the secrecy folder provided.
• Insert your ballot into the optical scan feeder.
• The scanner will record your votes and place your ballot into the locked ballot box.
• The scanner will alert you if your ballot appears blank or if it detects too many votes.
• You will have the option to either submit the ballot as is or make changes.
• You are not required to vote in every race or for every issue on the ballot; therefore, the scanner will not alert you of instances in which you did not vote.

Who's On The Ballot?

United States Senator

• Marco Rubio-Republican
• Val Demings-Democrat
• Dennis Misigoy- Libertarian Party of Florida
• Steven B. Grant-no party affiliation
• Tuan TQ Nguyen-no party affiliaton

Governor and Lieutenant Governor

• Ron DeSantis and Jeanette Nunez-Republican
• Charlie Crist and Karla Hernandez-Democrat
• Hector Roos and Jerry "Tub" Rorabaugh-Libertarian Party of Florida
• Carmen Jackie Gimenez and Kyle "KC" Gibson-no party affiliation

Attorney General

• Ashley Moody-Republican
• Aramis Ayala-Democrat

Chief Financial Officer

• Jimmy Patronis-Republican
• Adam Hattersley-Democrat

Commissioner of Agriculture

• Wilton Simpson-Republican
• Naomi Esther Blemur-Democrat

Justices of the Supreme Court

Shall Justice Charles T. Canady of the Supreme Court be retained in office?

• Yes
• No

Shall Justice John D. Couriel of the Supreme Court be retained in office?

• Yes
• No

Shall Justice Jamie Grosshans of the Supreme Court be retained in office?

• Yes
• No

Shall Justice Jorge Labarga of the Supreme Court be retained in office?

• Yes
• No

Shall Justice Ricky Polston of the Supreme Court be retained in office?

• Yes
• No

Second District Court of Appeal

Shall Judge Patricia Joan Kelly of the Second District Court of Appeal be retained in office?

• Yes
• N0

Shall Judge Nelly N. Khouzam of the Second District Court of Appeal be retained in office?

• Yes
• No

Shall Judge Suzanne Y. Labrit of the Second District Court of Appeal be retained in office?

• Yes
• No

Shall Judge Matt Lucas of the Second District Court of Appeal be retained in office?

• Yes
• No

Shall Judge Robert Morris of the Second District Court of Appeal be retained in office?

• Yes
• No

Shall Judge Stevan Travis Northcutt of the Second District Court of Appeal be retained inoffice?

• Yes
• No

Shall Judge John K. Stargel of the Second District Court of Appeal be retained in office?

• Yes
• No

Shall Judge Craig C. Villanti of the Second District Court of Appeal be retained in office?

• Yes
• No

Constitutional Amendments

No. 1 Constitutional Amendment Article VII, Section 4; Article XII, Section 42

Limitation on the Assessment of Real Property Used for Residential Purposes Proposing an amendment to the State Constitution, effective January 1, 2023, to authorize the Legislature, by general law, to prohibit the consideration of any change or improvement made to real property used for residential purposes to improve the property's resistance to flood damage in determining the assessed value of such property for ad valorem taxation purposes.

• Yes
• No

No. 2 Constitutional Amendment Article II, Section 5; Article XI, Sections 2 and 5

Abolishing the Constitution Revision CommissionProposing an amendment to the State

Constitution to abolish the Constitution Revision Commission, which meets at 20-year intervals and is scheduled to next convene in 2037, as a method of submitting proposed amendments or revisions to the State Constitution to electors of the state for approval. This amendment does not affect the ability to revise or amend the State Constitution through citizen initiative, constitutional convention, the Taxation and Budget Reform Commission, or legislative joint resolution.

• Yes
• No

No. 3 Constitutional Amendment, Article VII, Section 6; Article XII

Additional Homestead Property Tax Exemption for Specified Critical Public Services Workforce

Proposing an amendment to the State Constitution to authorize the Legislature, by general law, to grant an additional homestead tax exemption for nonschool levies of up to $50,000 of the assessed value of homestead property owned by classroom teachers, law enforcement officers, correctional officers, firefighters, emergency medical technicians, paramedics, child welfare services professionals, active duty members of the United States Armed Forces, and Florida National Guard members. This amendment shall take effect January 1, 2023

• Yes
• No