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Primary School Board races to watch in SWFL

Ferris via Flickr

Updated 10:31 pm
In the Sarasota County School Board District 1 race, Bridget Ziegler will advance to the general election with nearly 57% of the vote.

In the Sarasota County School Board District 4 race, Robyn A. Marinelli will advance to the general election with nearly 53% of the vote.

In the Sarasota County School Board District 5 race, will advance to the general election with nearly 53% of the vote.
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Updated 9:04 pm
With all precincts reporting, in the Lee County School Board District 1 race, Sam Fisher and Kathy Fanny will advance to the general election, with nearly 44% of the vote going to Fisher.

In the Lee County School Board District 4 race, Dan Severson and Debbie Jordan will advance to the general election, with 33% of the vote going to Severson.

In the Lee County School Board District 5 race, Armor Persons will advance to the general election with 55% of the vote.

In the Lee County School Board District 6 race, Denise Nystrom and Jada Langford Fleming will advance to the general election, with nearly 39% of the vote going to Fleming.
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Updated 8:32 pm
With all precincts reporting, in the Collier School Board District One race, incumbent Jory Westberry and Jerry Rutherford will advance to the general election, with nearly 45% of the vote going to Rutherford.

In the Collier School Board District Three race, incumbent Jen Mitchell and Kelly Lichter will advance to the general election, with nearly 47% of the vote going to Lichter.

In the Collier School Board District Five race, Timothy Donald Moshier and Roy M. Terry will advance to the general election, with nearly 40% of the vote going to Moshier.
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School board races in Southwest Florida this year have been attracting more attention and campaign spending than usual.

In Collier County, three of five school seats are up for election, with each race pitting incumbents against new challengers. In the Collier School Board District One race, incumbent Jory Westberry faces Kimberly Ann Boobyer, and Jerry Rutherford.

In the District Three race incumbent Jen Mitchell faces challengers Jana Greer and Kelly Lichter. In the District Five race, incumbent Roy Terry faces Arthur Boyer, Jacqualene Keay, Timothy Moshier, and Ana Turino.

Collier School Board races are non-partisan and voted on at-large. If no candidate receives at least 50% of the vote in the primary, the top two vote-getters advance to the general election.

Also in Sarasota County, three of five school board seats are up for election. In the District One race incumbent Bridget Ziegler faces challenger Dawnyelle Singleton. The District Four race is a contest between Lauren Kurnov and Robyn Marinelli after incumbent Shirley Brown chose not to seek re-election.

The Sarasota School Board District Five race includes candidates Nora Cietek and Timothy Enos, as incumbent Jane Goodwin is stepping down after serving three terms.

In Lee County, four of seven school board seats are up for election. Only voters who live in a school board district can vote in that race with the exception of the District Six seat, which is voted on at-large.

The Lee School Board District One race includes candidates Sam Fisher, Cathy Stout, Christine DeVigili, and Kathy Fanny.

The School Board District Four race has incumbent Debbie Jordan facing challengers Dan Severson, Gerri Ware and Jason “Big Mama” Jones.

The District Five race has incumbent Gwyn Gittens facing Armor D. Persons.

The Lee School Board District Six race includes candidates Tia Collin, Jada Langford-Fleming and Denise Nystrom. Current officeholder Betsy Vaughn is not seeking re-election.

Once polls close at 7 p.m., tune into WGCU 90.1 FM/WMKO 91.7 FM for real-time election results throughout the night.

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