House District Seat 24 demographics & election update

Registered voters in House District 24 [Source: Marion County Supervisor of Elections]

Five weeks out to the March 7 primary election to fill the vacant Florida House District 24 seat, and mail-in ballots are already trickling in. The Supervisor of Elections office reports 525 mail-in ballots have been received as of Feb. 1.

A total of 132,905 voters, nearly half of Marion County’s registered voters, live in District 24. More than half of those voters, however, will likely have no say in who will be their next representative in Tallahassee.

That’s because voting in the primary election is restricted to Republicans only due to a registered Republican entering the race as a write-in candidate, which changed the special election from a universal primary to a closed primary.

While it’s not unheard of for political parties to get someone to volunteer as a write-in to close the primary to the other side, this race comes amid controversy as the write-in candidate, Robert Fox, recently revealed to the Gazette that he was duped into filing by the campaign manager and treasurer  of fellow candidate Ryan Chamberlin.

Non-Republican voters in District 24 who wish to participate in the election have until Feb. 6 to register to vote or change their party affiliation. If a general election is needed, it will be held in May and all District 24 voters will be eligible to participate.

Here are the statistics for voters registered in House District 24: