Local

St. Johns County to hold runoffs despite low voter turnout

ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. — St. Johns County will hold runoffs in November's general election, including St. Augustine's mayoral race as well as city and county commissioners races.

The supervisor of elections office worked into the night Tuesday counting ballots and waiting for precincts to report results.

The polls weren't as busy as Supervisor of Elections Vicky Oakes would've hoped.

"We had about a 16 percent turnout I just wish we had a better turn out," said Oakes.

Oakes hopes high-profile races like the governor's race will attract more voters in November.

But the low turnout didn't stop election watch parties from kicking off.

Incumbent St. Augustine Mayor Joe Boles watched with friends and family from his home.

Boles inched away from his closest competitor, Nancy Shaver, to win the primary by 29 votes.

He said he brings experience to the table after years of holding the office.

"Forty-seven years of experience in the community bringing together all the different groups that have an interest in St. Augustine, is a little easier to do if you know people in those groups," said Boles.

Boles will face Shaver in November's general election.

Shaver held a watch party at the White Room on Avenida Menendez. She said she's confident and wants to bring change.

"What they really want is a mayor who listens and who doesn't have a personal agenda. They want the infrastructure taken care of, traffic managed,"said Shaver.

Todd Neville and John Valdes will head to a runoff in November for St. Augustine's commission seat 4.

Unofficial results show there will be no runoffs for St. Johns County School Board Districts 1, 3, and 4 as candidates Bev Slough, Bill Mignon, and Kelly Barrera captured more than 50 percent of votes.

Unofficial results also indicate incumbent St. Johns County Commissioner Ron Sanchez did not capture enough votes to head to a runoff. His former seat in district 2 will now be contested by primary winner Jeb Smith and write-in candidate John Sailer. Incumbent Jay Morris will face off for St. Johns County Commissioner District 4 seat against no-party-affiliation candidate Merrill Roland and write-in candidate Frances Schoenberger in the general election.