Mike Ertel

Michael "Mike" Ertel
Seminole County, Florida Supervisor of Elections
Assumed office
2005
Preceded by Dennis Joyner
Personal details
Born (1969-11-29) November 29, 1969
Jacksonville, Florida
Political party Republican
Spouse(s) Michelle Y. Ertel
Children Zane Beard, Gillian Ertel
Alma mater University of Maryland University College

Michael "Mike" Ertel (born November 29, 1969) is the Republican Supervisor of Elections of Seminole County, Florida, serving since he was appointed by Governor Jeb Bush in 2005.

Ertel was born in Jacksonville, and grew up in Seminole County, attending Lake Howell High School and then later attending the University of Maryland University College. After high school, he joined the United States Army, where he served first in the Infantry and then as a public affairs representative, and took place in Army operations during the 1992 Los Angeles riots; during Operation Able Sentry, in which the United States established a base in Macedonia to monitor sanctions against Serbia; and in Bosnia during the Bosnian War. After completing his term in the Army, Ertel returned to Seminole County, where he continued his work in public affairs. In 1999, following a vacancy on the Oviedo City Council, Ertel applied for an appointment, but was ultimately not selected, in part due to concerns about a county employee being a city council member.[1] Afterwards, he was contracted by Visit Florida, which was closely affiliated with the Florida Commission on Tourism, to work as their post-disaster public relations director.

When Seminole County Supervisor of Elections Sandy Goard resigned from her office in January 2004, Dennis Joyner was appointed as her replacement. Ertel, along with fellow veteran Charles Gambaro, Jr., challenged Joyner in the Republican primary later that year. He criticized the incumbent for increased office spending, noting, "When you spend beyond your means, then ask the county for more money, that tells me that the current administrator doesn't know how to budget," and declared that he would "hold the line on the budget in his first year in office and then cut the budget in each of the succeeding three years."[2] Ultimately, however, Ertel lost to Joyner in the primary.

However, in 2005, following his election to the post, Joyner announced his resignation as Supervisor of Elections in a letter to then-Governor Jeb Bush, noting, "My physicians have advised that I [resign] immediately," which was effective on January 10.[3] Ertel, along with a number of other individuals, applied for the appointment to fill Joyner's position, and he was appointed by Governor Bush to serve a two-year term until the next general election.[4]

In 2006, Ertel ran for re-election, and was opposed by Democratic activist Marian Williams, who had run two years prior. He was endorsed by the Orlando Sentinel, which praised him for the fact that he "has run elections well and has taken creative approaches to voter registration and streamlining of office operations."[5] In the end, Ertel defeated Williams by a solid margin, winning 59% of the vote.[6] In 2008 and 2012, Ertel was re-elected without opposition. In 2012, when Governor Rick Scott purged thousands of voters that he claimed to be non-citizens from the voter rolls, Ertel spoke out, asserting, "It's frustrating that we're put in this situation that we are the ones having to contact our neighbors and say, 'Some other person's database says you may not be a citizen and we're the ones having to ask you if you are, even though we were the ones standing in the back of the room when we registered you to vote!'"[7] He noted that since there were so many instances in which the purged voters were actually legally eligible voters, "[T]he list [of purged voters] should have been vetted quite a bit more before they were given to us."[8] In 2013, Ertel received the International Electoral Ergonomy Award from the International Centre for Parliamentary Studies for his work as the Seminole County Supervisor of Elections; specifically, they praised him for the fact that the Voter Trust Plan he implemented increased voter confidence, increased turnout, and was "exemplary for election management bodies worldwide."[9]

References

  1. ↑ "Can County Employee Be City Council Member?". Orlando Sentinel. May 16, 1999.
  2. ↑ "5 Candidates Square Off In Primaries After Goard Retires". Orlando Sentinel. August 29, 2004.
  3. ↑ "Seminole County election supervisor resigns, cites health reasons". Florida Times-Union. January 7, 2005.
  4. ↑ "Bush Appoints Runner-up To Elections Post". Orlando Sentinel. February 8, 2005.
  5. ↑ "Keep Ertel, Robinson in office: Our Position: Incumbents have done well with the Seminole School Board and the elections office.". Orlando Sentinel. October 8, 2006.
  6. ↑ http://voteseminole.org/downloads/Election_j8wdff0.pdf
  7. ↑ "Elections supervisors buck Gov. Scott over voter purge". WOFL. Retrieved May 13, 2013.
  8. ↑ "Florida elections supervisor: state voting system is flawed". MSNBC. May 29, 2012.
  9. ↑ "Seminole elections supervisor gets international award". Orlando Sentinel. December 10, 2013.
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