- March 14, 2025
Allen Whetsell
AGE: 57
FAMILY: Single, no children
QUIRKY FACT: Owns more than 200 spy novels and 80 clown figurines
BIO: Allen Whetsell received an associate degree from West Liberty State College and a degree in Mortuary Science and Management from the Pittsburgh Institute of Mortuary Science. He has lived in Flagler Beach since 2001. He is the current lieutenant governor for Division 7 of the Florida District of Kiwanis. He is president of the Family Life Center of Flagler County Board of Directors and is on the Flagler County Education Foundation board.
This office is invisible to most voters. How does the supervisor impact each resident?
The supervisor of elections affects voters by getting education out on various issues — what’s going on the ballot. ... I think education for the community is vitally important for all of the citizens to know all of the reasons why things are changed. There are precincts that have been changed just recently that people are getting notifications on. ...
If you were notified of a problem with the registration of a candidate, how would you respond?
Without going into the current situation ... I believe you need to look at all the facts that have been presented. But I think we need a fair system, and we need to have it looked into to see if it’s really the facts, to get a legal opinion. If the person themselves makes that determination that they qualify and they believe that they rightfully qualify, they’re swearing that ethics oath, that’s when this problem should be addressed, not when there’s someone else just making an accusation against a candidate. ... I don’t think the current supervisor of elections has handled it properly.
If elected would you expand, condense, or leave the precincts the same?
I think we need to do a complete audit of all the precincts here in Flagler County. I have a hard time believing that we have a county where we need to have people driving from the F-section all the way to Old Kings Elementary School to vote ... when they can drive right across the street to the VFW. I also think that people in the western end of the county who are driving from the rural sections of the community all the way to the county offices need to have that addressed.
To say that I would keep the same number of precincts or reduce them or expand them — I want to do a full audit before anything is done. You can’t make an informed decision unless you have all the facts. I think there hasn’t been a sharing of all the information that went into the decision of moving precincts, and I think that there has to be more accountability. And I think a public forum needs to be offered to the residents in the area where the precincts are going to be switched.
Is early voting worth the time and money for the county?
Early voting is essential to give the citizens their opportunity to have their vote counted. Is it worth the time and money? Yes, I believe it’s a fair and equitable thing to do. ...
There are volunteer organizations ... that will gladly man polls. And we can, as a government agency, afford to have early voting. There seems to be some discussion that early voting, you know the cost per vote becomes prohibitive to do it. My question then becomes what is the cost of not having that person vote? So it really is something that I believe is essential.
If elected, what changes would you make to the office?
The first would be I would evaluate the current staff ... and be sure they know that this is a consumer-friendly office. ... I’m a firm believer that the Supervisor of Elections Office needs to look at the current voting procedures that we have, the voting machines that we have, and see that they are the most cost-efficient. ...
Currently, it’s been proposed that all budgets need to be cut in Flagler County by a certain amount of money. ... So before that happens, I think that needs to be looked at as a political move, not as an effective move. There are a lot of political and financial conservatives out there who are right now trying to be appeased to. I don’t believe I’m going to be the person who is going to make everybody happy. That’s not realistic. But I have a very conservative financial management background in the business that I operate. And I would look at where every dollar has been spent and is going to be spent. ...
With the number of events that go on in Flagler County, there can be free things ... that can be taken advantage of. And it doesn’t have to be the supervisor’s staff that sits there; there are volunteers in this county looking to do great things. ...
We need to start at younger ages. Children and parents today are well aware of what the political issues are, but if children’s’ parents don’t get out and exercise that, they’re missing an opportunity to give their children a good education on the system and how it works. So I’m a believer that education in middle schools is essential, too, because those children can go home and talk to their parents about the issues. ...
The last thing I would do is put a professional image back on the supervisor of elections. ... I just think that I bring business management experience, financial conservative experience and the public image that I’ve been out in Flagler County, and I care for a lot of people, care for a lot of organizations, and I think I can make a change.
