After 61 years, will Apopka vote for a new mayor?

APOPKA, Fla. — The final push is underway late Tuesday afternoon to get votes in for several big elections, including the runoff race for mayor in Apopka.
 
Orange County supervisor of elections officials said more voters have come out Tuesday to cast ballots in the race between longtime Apopka Mayor John Land and his challenger Joe Kilsheimer, than did during the first election in March.
 
About 3,400 absentee ballots were turned in in the race, more than the previous election.
 
Slow and steady is the way one observer inside Apopka's only polling place described the turnout Tuesday.
 
Some wondered if the rain would affect the turnout, or if apathy would keep voters away.
 
"I'm sure it's important enough but I'm just too busy to get involved, I guess," said Apopka resident William Bishop.
 
"Don't you care who's mayor of your city?" Channel 9 reporter Kathi Belich asked Bishop.'
 
"It doesn't affect me that I know the difference," Bishop said.
 
Last month, Land beat Kilsheimer, his first challenger in 12 years, by more than 400 votes. But neither man had more that 50 percent of the vote, which made Tuesday's run-off necessary.
 
 Belich learned that both candidates have been courting absentee voters, encouraging them to vote and helping them turn in their ballots.
 
One registered voter told Belich that her decision not to vote is a rejection of both candidates.
 
"I look at them and if I don't feel comfortable and I don't agree with them, I don't vote," said Margaret Bickert.
 
The turnout is still only about a fifth or fewer of the 26,653 registered voters in Apopka, according to elections officials.

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