The Punta Gorda herald. [volume] (Punta Gorda, Fla.) 1893-1958, 1922-06-09
Shelley, Trab,e Lipsconnb, Blount, De,Uey, Bell
Smith, S,Unney and Mobley Are the Nominees
Charlotte COunty's First Primary
Lection Marked by Warm Inter-
est in Number of Contests

The story of Charlotte county's
' first primary election, which was held
Tuesday. is told by the tabulation of
votes by precincts presented on this
page, The vote on railroad commits
sioner for some precincts is missing,
and the figures in each case indicate
the number of first choice votes re-
ceived by the various candidates.
In some cases, therefore, the pre-
cinct vote will not add up to the
totals. which are the official count in
cluding second-choice votes.
There was much interest in the
two. contests for county commission
er, between Messrs. Windham and
Swinney in district two and Messrs.
Smith and Written in district three.
Swinney was an easy winner over
Windham in district two, as will be
noted, but the vote came near being
a tie in district three, Smith, accord
ing to the count, receiving 230 and
Whitten 22S. AS the vote was so
close there has been considerable
talk of recount, il being pointed
out by some that in tallying the votes
the election board might have made
a mistake, and some members of the
board acknowledge that this is posi-
counting the votes. However, this
will not be done as ii developed that
the election board had certified the
returns and turned the ballot box
key and tally sheets over to the SUI
pervisor and county Judge, after
which the boxes may not be opened
without an order from the circuit
court. 1t is possible that an effort
will be made to secure a recount of
the votes in order to satisfy all con-
'cerned, although this is not likely as
Mr.. Whitten is not insisting upon a
recount.
The large vote received by Steph-
ems for representative was the sur
prise of the election, many having
predicted that he would be the low
man, believing that Shelley would
have walk-over so to speak There
was not much difference in the an
nounced platforms of the three can
ing progressive measures. including
stock or fence law, but Shelley SEEM
ed to make his position on the latter
issue a little clearer than Messrs.
Stephens and Stoll and he was gen
orally looked upon and referred to
as a "no-fence" candidate and his
election is looked upon by the mo-
fence" advocates as an indication of
the sentiment of the people in regard
to this matter.
Governor Gilchrist received a ma
jority in the county but was over
whelmingly defeated by his opponent,
Park Trammell. in their contest for
the senatorship. The vote received
by Gilchrist in this county was just
about what careful observers had
predicted he would receive. The
general, apparently, is not downcast
over his defeat, seeming to be more
interested in his plan to beautify the
town by planting thousands OF palms
than in the outcome of the election
He thinks that he was defeated be-
cause of his stand on the soldiers
bonus question.
While interest in the election was
intense and some more or less i'll
feeling was engendered in some quar-
Lers, there was no disturbance of any
who lost did so with good grace. and
rs rule received the news with a
smile.