2014 Safety Harbor Municipal Election By The Numbers
By 
The 2014 Safety Harbor municipal election saw a roughly 50-percent voter turnout, an impressive figure for a special election held in a non-presidential year.
According to the Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections website, of the nearly 13,000 registered voters in Safety Harbor, more than 6,000 total ballots were cast.
*Records show it was the highest voter turnout since 2008.
The high turnout led to a tight finish in the city’s mayoral race, as former mayor Andy Steingold edged out incumbent Joe Ayoub by less than 100 votes, 2,699 – 2,609.
In addition, newly elected commissioners Andy Zodrow (3,268 votes) and Carlos Diaz (2,880) both garnered more votes than either mayoral candidate, a somewhat unusual occurrence that rarely happens in local elections.
A look inside the numbers uncovers some interesting trends and highlights just how close – or in the case of Seat 3, not so close – this election really was:
| RACE |
ELECTION DAY POLLS |
ABSENTEE VOTES |
EARLY VOTES |
PROVISIONAL |
TOTAL
|
PCT. |
| MAYOR: | ||||||
| AYOUB |
999 |
1,567 |
43 |
0 |
2,609 |
43.3 |
| BESORE |
229 |
477 |
11 |
0 |
717 |
11.9 |
| STEINGOLD |
1,091 |
1,578 |
30 |
0 |
2,699 |
44.8 |
| SEAT 3: | ||||||
| HARMESON |
801 |
1,384 |
32 |
0 |
2,217 |
40.4 |
| ZODROW |
1,283 |
1,946 |
39 |
0 |
3,268 |
59.6 |
| SEAT 4: | ||||||
| DIAZ |
1,138 |
1,694 |
48 |
0 |
2,880 |
51.4 |
| IRVIN |
1,014 |
1,689 |
29 |
0 |
2,732 |
48.6 |
*Note: This was supposed to read “the highest voter turnout in a non-presidential election year since 2008.” Sorry for the discrepancy. Ed.
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