Election for Orange County Supervisor of Elections pushed to Nov. 5 ballot

Following a judge's decision to disqualify independent candidate Cynthia Harris for improper paperwork, the election moves to the General Election.

By Sam Albuquerque
| 4:00 p.m. August 23, 2024

Courtesy Orange County Supervisor of Elections Office

West Orange Times & Observer
News

The election to decide Orange County's new Supervisor of Elections has been pushed to the November General Election ballot following the disqualification of independent candidate Cynthia Harris.

After democratic candidate Dan Helm filed a lawsuit to remove Harris from the ballot, a judge ruled that she improperly filed paperwork — saying Harris failed to pay her qualifying fee from a campaign treasurer's account.

The $7,736.76 check in which Harris paid the qualifying fee on June 14 was from her TD Bank account, which was not listed as a designated campaign account until July when she provided an amended DS-DE 9 form to the Supervisor of Elections office.

Voters will now choose between four Democratic candidates for the Supervisor of Election position: Karen Castor Dentel, Helm, Wes Hodge and Sunshine Linda-Marie Grund.

To read more about each candidate for this election, read our Meet the Candidates Q&A story series on each.

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Sam Albuquerque

A native of João Pessoa, Brazil, Sam Albuquerque moved in 1997 to Central Florida as a kid. After earning a communications degree in 2016 from the University of Central Florida, he started his career covering sports as a producer for a local radio station, ESPN 580 Orlando. He went on to earn a master’s degree in editorial journalism from Northwestern University, before moving to South Carolina to cover local sports for the USA Today Network’s Spartanburg Herald-Journal. When he’s not working, you can find him spending time with his lovely wife, Sarah, newborn son, Noah, and dog named Skulí.