- March 12, 2025
What would you do to try to increase voter turnout in Flagler County?
Raise voter awareness with more timely and accurate information. Voters tell us they remain confused or unaware due to the constant changing of polling locations, dates and times.
Example: Until a few days ago, and in the primary, the Supervisor of Elections website contained two pages with times and dates which were different on both counts. Using proven, inexpensive avenues — such as social media, the supervisor’s website, attending high-traffic community events, local advertising outlets and public service announcements, piggybacking in mail-outs with other county offices, and other ideas — (I) will achieve success here — all year, not just during election cycles.
My opponent proposes ads on restaurant menus. I think the aforementioned achieves more for less tax dollars.
Is there room to cut the Supervisor of Elections’ budget, or would that be cutting services too much?
Yes, cut to save. My opponent mentions looking to surrounding counties to justify spending. When looking at them, I see areas for improvement.
Example: Volusia’s electorate holds over three times more registered voters with basically the same staffing budget. From a business perspective, since Flagler contains far fewer voters than our neighbors, why should we use them as our spending indicators? Let’s use Flagler’s previous years to budget in our own county.
Experience tells me we may streamline while still ensuring customer service levels. These levels manifest through a culture of understanding the voters and candidates, who remain our work’s reason. They are our bosses, so operate from that perspective. The old political philosophy of throwing money at a problem just doesn’t seem to work nationally or locally.
Why should people vote for you instead of your opponent?
As an honorably discharged soldier and proud American citizen of Flagler, I truly care about the right and privilege of voting to elect our leaders. Often, this right is unfortunately taken for granted. As a taxpayer, I feel elected officials should serve their community — which is why folks have seen me over the last several years helping at church, Habitat for Humanity, Go Pink for Women, Go Red for Women, Wounded Warrior Project, Relay for Life and more. I’m not, nor do I claim to be, a professional politician.
Like others, I witnessed the deterioration of services and professionalism in the supervisor’s office over the (past) four years, and the resulting frustration from the County Commissioners and Flagler voters. It is public knowledge that the voter turnout declined, and the commissioners and the supervisor remain at odds, often wasting time with finger-pointing and arguing initiated by the supervisor. (That) wastes taxpayer time and money. So when voters and elected officials asked me to run … I answered the call. I feel it a responsibility to give back to a community that gives me so much and give taxpayers what they deserve.
Unfortunately, my opponent continues showing a lack of listening over the last four years to the voters, candidates and commissioners. (She) remains unwilling to discuss the issues and real plans for addressing them and instead prefers to twist facts and blame public officials while overlooking existing issues within the office. My opponent will continue asking for more and the taxpayers will get less. When I interact with voters and officials, I hear them clearly. They like ideas of private-sector philosophy, of customer service, fiscal responsibility, positive interaction and a team approach to working with the County Commission. … We must change the culture.
Voting (for) me … means restoring our elections’ office and giving it over to the voting taxpayer. It means they own an elections’ office that reaches out to voters and gets them excitedly enthusiastic about voting. It means trusting tax dollars are handled and spent responsibly. It means a government office that works congruently with other government offices to bring the maximum benefit to Flagler residents.
Following the questionnaire, we had each candidate come in for a follow-up interview, a sample of Trey Corbett's responses is compiled below.
“You can’t blame the voter,” Corbett said, on decreased turnout numbers, “when the information isn’t communicated effectively. … I don’t think the impetus of a low voter turnout should be placed on the voter. … I think it’s doable to increase by double-digits. … You have to motivate the voting public. … I think that you can motivate voters. … I think you make it easy on the voter … with consistency and clear communication.”
On budgeting, Corbett said:
“There’s a lack of experience when it comes to being an administrator. …. We can do more for less. … I understand budgets and budget constraints and how they work.
On dealing with the County Commission, Corbett said: “You can’t have (contention).”
He described Kimberle Weeks’ attitude over the years as, “Just give me the money, and I’ll give you back what’s left over.”
On accusations that he has violated voting laws, Corbett said:
“At all times during this election, I’ve been in compliance with the residency laws of the state of Florida. … I never asked anybody, ‘If I do this, will you vote for me?’ That I can tell you. … At no point was there an investigation. … It’s an election year; they get a lot of frivolous complaints.”
