Photo courtesy Sarasota Classified/Teachers Association Facebook page.

Sarasota County voters on Tuesday night passed one countywide referendum and rejected another. A tax supporting the Sarasota County Schools passed with greater than 84% of the vote. Meanwhile, a charter amendment that would have returned county commission races to countywide contests failed.

The school tax, which was originally approved by voters in 2002, saw record levels of support this year. With all votes counted, 83,446 voters supported extending the tax for another four years and just 15,672 favored ending it. That means 84.19% support for the tax, eclipsing the nearly 79% support the tax garnered the last time it appeared on the ballot in 2018. A record number of voters also weighed in, with 99,118 ballots cast on the issue. The tax is projected to raise at least $71 million for the school district in the coming year.

Meanwhile, voters pushed back at an attempt from county commissioners to return to county-wide elections. With 97,825 votes counted, a total of 55,994, about 57.24% of voters, voted against a proposed amendment to the county charter. Despite the Republican Party of Sarasota supporting a return to countywide votes, just 42.76% of voters supported the change. Voters in the county last weighed in on this issue in 2018, when more than 59% of voters favored the switch to single-member elections in the first place.

That could have immediate political consequences. Democrats have pushed for single-member voting in part because it could create the best shot at electing a Democratic County Commissioner for the first time since 1966. There wasn’t a great opportunity in 2020 after county commissioners redistricted. But now District 2, the only Democratic-leaning district following another redistricting, will hold an election in November. Republican County Commissioner Christian Ziegler is expected to face a Democrat. Sarasota City Commissioner Hagen Brody and activist Mike Cosentino have both filed for the Democratic nomination in the district.

The two county referenda drew significant turnout, about 28.47% of all registered voters in the county.

Photo courtesy Sarasota Classified/Teachers Association Facebook page.