According to unofficial results, 22.84% of registered voters cast ballots in the Sarasota City Commission runoff, during which attorney Hagen Brody and Jen Ahearn-Koch defeated small business owner Martin Hyde for seats on the dais.
That statistic is up about 3 percentage points from the last at-large runoff in 2013 and tops the 15.6% turnout from the same contest in 2009, while the precincts covering Bird Key and Plymouth Harbor and downtown retained the strongest turnout numbers. Precincts covering Newtown and northeast parts of the city remained at the lower spectrum of voter turnout.
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Here is your 2017 Sarasota City Commission runoff election by the numbers:
- Of the 5,144 registered voters younger than 30, 91 cast ballots in Tuesday’s election. That’s a 1.7% voter turnout for that demographic. (This includes numbers from the North Port special election that could not immediately be broken out by the Supervisor of Elections Office.)
- Of the 5,881 registered voters older than 64, 1,234 cast ballots in Tuesday’s contest. That’s a 20.9% voter turnout for the city’s oldest demographic.
- Although the final campaign finance reports aren’t in, the race was the most expensive in the last decade, with the three final candidates spending a combined $147,573.19 as of May 5.
- Brody received the most value in campaign spending, with each vote he received in both elections combined worth $3.80. Ahearn-Koch spent $5.03 per vote, while Hyde spent $14.93.
- Compared with the March election, voter turnout in every precinct but one — precinct 115 — increased in the runoff. Voters cast 17 fewer ballots in the precinct spanning Newtown.
- The biggest swing in voter turnout occurred in 213 and 109, which saw a 9 percentage point and 7 percentage point increase respectively between the March election and the runoff. Precinct 213 comprises Bird Key and the retirement community Plymouth Harbor, while precinct 109 includes the neighborhoods west of the North Trail.
- Between the two elections, Brody managed to flip seven precincts — including Ahearn-Koch’s own — in his favor.
