The first test of new federal justice department rules that changed the way Osceola County votes for county commissioners came Tuesday in a primary election.
Darren Soto was the big winner in the Democratic primary for the state House district 49 seat. He'll take on Tony Suarez in April.
John Quinones, who gave up that seat, won the Republican primary for county commission District 2. He'll face democratic primary winner Armando Ramirez.
District 4's Democratic primary winner was Frank DeNike.
The new rules were put into place to give Hispanics a fair shot at electing their candidate of choice. But some are upset that very few people turned out to vote at all.
As many as 50 precincts participated in this primary election in Osceola County. But what raised eyebrows was the amount of voters who cast their ballot, fewer 3,000.
"Well, the turnout was appalling,” said Kissimmee commissioner Jerry Gemskie. “You'd think that the people would want to get more involved in local government."
This is the first election where only those living in the districts on the ballot were able to vote in the election, after a federal judge overturned Osceola's countywide method of electing commissioners, saying it diluted the Hispanic vote.
"It’s supposed to help Hispanics select their own choice, but if Hispanics don't come out and vote, it's still going to be the same thing,” said District 2 candidate Larry Lerdo.
Whether or not the change affected the turnout is disputed.
"I think changing it had an effect on the turnout," Gemskie said.
But political observer Ramon Deazun said the change had nothing to do with the low turnout.
“The change that took place was to give a fair shot to a group of people that weren’t getting a fair shot,” he said.
Then there's the expense of an election. Assistant Supervisor of Elections Connie Click said a low voter turnout means an expensive election.
In Osceola County, Saul Saenz, Central Florida News 13.