The Florida Retail Federation expects a higher increase in the Sunshine State, about 4 percent. National holiday sales this year are expected to increase 3.6 percent over 2015, according to a consumer survey released by the National Retail Federation. Holiday shopping in the survey is defined as that occurring in the months of November and December. 

After perhaps the most divisive presidential campaign in modern history, an unusual amount attention has been paid to the normally routine vote of the electoral college. But after these decisive votes for president get cast, two electors living in the Gulf Coast hope the noise around this process can subside. 

Joe Gruters and Christian Ziegler, respectively the chairman of the Republican Party of Sarasota and Republican state committeeman for Sarasota County, will be among 29 Florida electors casting their votes today on the Florida Senate floor in Tallahassee. The votes are among 538 being cast nationwide. These votes, guided by statewide elections for president in November, will actually choose the next president. If electors stay true to home state wishes, that means Donald Trump will win the vote, but a nationwide movement asking electors to become “faithless” and violate typical protocol has left electors awash in electronic and physical communications. “I honestly didn't expect the flood of communications from the losing side, but I do realize that it's part of the job," says Ziegler, who has received at least 8,000 emails and over 500 letters asking him to change his vote. “The mailed letters are particularly difficult to read because the ink was smudged from what looks like liberal tears."

In the final days before the election, the US Postal Service brought bins full of letters to the two mens’ homes. Gruters estimates about 125,000 emails have come in the last month, and he gets about 500 pieces of physical mail a day. “It’s funny because now the Trump people have decided to send stuff out too, to try and counter the negative stuff,” Gruters says. “I called them up and said, 'Please don't send more stuff.' That is not necessarily what we need.” 

Pressure to vote differently than expected has been especially high this year, in part because for the second time in five elections the expected winner of the electoral vote lost the popular vote; Democrat Hillary Clinton won the popular by about 2.8 million votes thanks to popularity on the West Coast. Most states, including Florida, are winner takes all, so a candidate gets all electoral votes regardless if they win by a small margin (Trump won Florida’s 29 votes with 49 percent of the popular vote to Clinton’s 48 percent) or a large one (Clinton took California’s 55 votes with 61 percent of the popular vote to Trump’s 34 percent). A number of organizations have led letter campaigns to electors as a result. “The Constitution empowers Electors to exercise judgment and choice,” reads a letter published by the Democracy and Progress PAC. “If your role were only ceremonial, our Founders would not have required the states to elect you or that you cast ballots by your own hand.”

Neither Ziegler nor Gruters seem likely to sway. Both vocally supported Trump in the campaign; Gruters served as co-chair of Trump’s Florida operation. But even if they did, Florida’s electors are more bound to hold to the state vote than those from some other states. Should a Florida elector cast a vote today for someone besides Trump, they will be pulled from the Senate floor immediately and be replaced by an alternate who will vote for Trump instead. As a result, Florida Democratic leaders haven’t been that vocal about the process. “The most likely outcome Monday is that the Electoral College vote goes exactly as planned and Donald Trump will become the next president of the United States,” says JoAnne DeVries, newly-elected Sarasota Democratic Party chair. “I fully expect the 29 Florida presidential electors chosen by state party leaders to vote for Trump.” 

Gruters and Ziegler each say they think all electors have an obligation to vote as directed by voters in their home state. But they also both say the dissenters have the right to lobby electors to act differently. “Every American has a right to have their voice heard as long as it's done in a non-threatening manner,” Ziegler says. 

Photo courtesy Christian Ziegler: A bin of letters petitioning Ziegler to vote against Donald Trump at the electoral college vote today.

The Sarasota County Schools assistant director of career technical education K-12 programs, Ronald DiPillo, has been appointed to succeed Todd Bowden as the district’s executive director of career, technical and adult education, according to superintendent Lori White. The primary responsibility of the executive director’s position is as the chief administrator of Suncoast Technical College. DiPillo will also have responsibility for career and technical education programs in elementary, middle and high schools; serve as the executive director of the Adult and Community Enrichment Program; and is the chief administrator of Suncoast Polytechnical High School and Sarasota Virtual Academy. 

Sarasota County Schools

Sarasota County Sheriff Tom Knight has announced that three crime analysts have now received state certification as law enforcement analysts. Caitlin Rogers, a five-year employee of the agency, graduated as a member of the 26th class of the FDLE Florida Law Enforcement Analyst Academy. Her colleagues, Natalie Johnson-Mayer and Anne Marie Bowser, received state certification in 2012 and 2013. The academy, which began in 2003, is the first of its kind in the nation. During the six-week course, analysts learned criminal and intelligence analysis skills that are used by law enforcement to successfully prevent crime and conduct complex investigations. 

Sarasota County Sheriff's Office

The City of Sarasota is now using the email domain @SarasotaFL.Gov. The Information Technology Department recently migrated all City of Sarasota email addresses to the new address to leverage technology efficiencies and prepare for future system upgrades.The new email domain is not case sensitive. Initially, some email servers may not recognize the new email domain and send emails from the City of Sarasota to a spam folder. Every email address throughout every department is affected: approximately 1,000 addresses. 

City of Sarasota

Nominations are now open for SRQ magazine’s fourth annual Women in Business Competition, recognizing extraordinary women who have made meaningful contributions to the Sarasota and Bradenton communities through their business, nonprofit and philanthropic endeavors. Know someone who deserves to be recognized? Nominate them today! Once nominated, individuals will be invited to submit a formal application that will be juried by a panel of outside judges. The  2017 Leadership Circle finalists and winners will be announced at the 2017 Hear Me Roar Leadership and Awards Luncheon on Thursday, April 27, 2017 at The Francis. All nominees, finalists and winners will be recognized in a special Women in Business awards supplement in the May 2017 issue of SRQ magazine.

To nominate a deserving local woman for her leadership and positive influence in the community, click here. 

Nominations are open through January 27, 2017, midnight.

Best of luck and “Roar” on ladies! 

Women in Business