Incumbent Melissa Blazier and challengers Tim Guerrette and Dave Schaffel will face off in a closed primary election in August to be the Republican Party candidate for Collier County Supervisor of Elections.
Collier County residents who are registered Republicans on July 22 will choose among the three candidates in a closed primary election on August 20. All voters will then decide between the winner of the Republican primary and a write-in option in the general election in November.
There’s a Lot at Stake
The write-in, or “ghost” candidate, had the effect of shutting out registered Democrats and “other” voters unless they switch to register as Republicans by a July 22 deadline ahead of the primary. Despite the write-in candidate, the race will almost certainly be decided in August.
- Questionable ‘ghost’ candidate closes Collier County primary. What does it mean?, Naples Daily News, 7/5/24
Very Different Choices
The three candidates offer very different choices.
Incumbent Melissa Blazier is an 18+ year career professional committed to following Florida law. Her two challengers say that’s not enough to ensure election integrity.
Tim Guerrette is a retired career law enforcement professional who said he attended Mike Lindell’s online election security/integrity seminars, Election Integrity Network weekly meetings and is a contributor to Florida Fair Elections.
Schaffel was a successful IT professional and entrepreneur who lists Lindell as one of the four endorsements on his website.
Mike Lindell is the CEO of MyPillow. The political activist and conspiracy theorist “played a significant role in supporting and financing former President Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election result.” (Wikipedia)
In This Post
In this post, you will find the following information to help you learn about the candidates:
- Candidate websites and endorsements
- Candidate social media
- Candidate forums
- Sparker’s Soapbox candidate questionnaires
- Collier County Republican Executive Committee (CCREC) candidate questionnaires
- A deep dive into the contributions to and spending by each campaign
This post is a work in progress. More information and analysis may be added in the weeks ahead. Check back often for updates.
Websites and Endorsements
Visit the candidates’ websites to learn what they want you to know about them.
On each candidate’s website, I looked for their education, career history, and prior involvement with the community. I looked for a clear statement of what they have to offer, why they are running, and what they want to accomplish in the job. All contain language about the importance of election integrity, security, and transparency. But there are important differences beyond that.
Here is some of what I learned:
Melissa Blazier: melissablazier.com
“As an accomplished elections professional with more than 18 years of election administration experience, I am dedicated to ensuring the integrity of the electoral process in Collier County,” Blazier says. “Experience and integrity matter when counting your vote.”
Visit her website to assess her goals, her professional bio and community involvement, and lengthy list of endorsements.
Endorsements
Blazier has been endorsed by Florida Senate President Kathleen Passidomo; former Sheriff Don Hunter; former Supervisor of Elections Jennifer Edwards; former County Commissioners Jim Coletta, Fred Coyle, Donna Fiala, Frank Halas, and Penny Taylor; former Collier County Judge Mike Carr; former State Representative Dudley Goodlette; former State Senator Garrett Richter; and several other former elected officials.
She was also endorsed by former Collier County Republican Party leaders Scott Lepore, Mike Lyster, Ron Kezeske, and Doug Rankin, as well as the Naples Better Government Committee, Collier County Citizens Values PAC, and many prominent community and business leaders.
Tim Guerrette: votetimguerette.com
As a career law enforcement officer, now retired, Guerrette says he has spent a career of “safeguarding the laws of this great country” and “is ready to continue his efforts as our next Supervisor of Elections.”
He is “committed to safe, secure, ethical elections for Collier County,” and says that under his leadership, “the voting process in Collier County will ALWAYS be transparent to deter any concern of fraud and promote confidence.”
His website includes his educational and professional bio and a lengthy list of community activities, and states that he is “a proud patriot with strong values” who believes “God, family, and country come first!”
Endorsements
Guerrette has been endorsed by Daniel Kowal, Collier County Commissioner; Carmine Marceno, Lee County Sheriff; Amira Fox, State Attorney for the 20th Judicial Circuit; Patrick Dearborn, Greater Naples Fire Commissioner; Capt. Wayne Smith, USAF POW; Lois Bolin, PhD, Patriot/Historian/Speaker; and Jim Bloom.
His Facebook page also includes endorsements from Southwest Florida Professional Firefighters and Paramedics Local 1826 and Madison Cawthorn (Former U.S. Representative North Carolina).
Dave Schaffel: schaffelforsupervisor.com
“Fellow Patriots,” Schaffel begins, “with a deep-rooted commitment to the principles that underpin our great republic, I am dedicated to upholding the integrity and transparency of our elections.”
He says he is a “rock solid conservative” and “America first patriot,” but does not offer any personal or professional history. Nor does he say why he is running. So I looked for that information in the website’s embedded campaign video.
There, describing himself as a successful businessman and IT entrepreneur, he explains his motivation for running. “After four years of waiting, we still have more questions than answers,” he says. “Even here at home, proud patriots have been asking the tough questions and simply not getting the right answers.”
The unanswered questions, according to the video, are “Was our presidential election stolen?” “Can the machines be trusted?” “Were the mail-in ballots all legitimate?” “Did Joe Biden deserve to be president?” and “Will we ever have a free and fair election again?”
Endorsements
Schaffel has been endorsed by Alfie Oakes, State Committeeman; Mike Lindell, CEO of MyPillow; Roger Stone, Advisor to President Trump; Dr. Douglas Frank, Elections Expert; the Collier County Republican Party; and the Pinellas County Watchdogs.
Candidate Social Media
Candidates generally update their Facebook pages more frequently than their websites. There, you may find posts about their recent activities and endorsements.
- Blazier – Facebook; Instagram; LinkedIn;
- Guerrette – Facebook; Instagram; LinkedIn; X (formerly Twitter)
- Schaffel – X (formerly Twitter)
Candidate Forums
The candidates participated in a form co-hosted by NABOR and Naples Better Government on behalf of a coalition of local community organizations on June 19. Over the course of 60 minutes, their positions on issues, strengths and weaknesses, similarities, and differences became apparent.
For example:
Question: “Do you believe there has been election fraud, or is there anything that could be done to make the voters perhaps feel more secure?”
- Blazier: “No, there is not widespread voter fraud in the state of Florida.”
- Guerrette: “Gov. DeSantis does a great job… But If you have the attitude that it can’t happen here, or if you have a laissez-faire attitude or are being naive that you can’t perceive a problem, that is a problem in itself.”
- Schaffel: “The answer to that question is, nobody knows … because our voter rolls are likely filled with non-citizens. It’s so easy for non-citizens to get on our voter rolls.” “You can’t believe anybody in the government. You can’t believe anybody in the media. And that includes Fox News. You gotta go find the information.”
Watch the forum recording here.
Sparker’s Soapbox Questionnaires
The candidates responded to my questionnaire asking about their age, background, work experience, community involvement, and several matters of county policy.
Among the questions addressed are:
- Please summarize your work experience, including employers and dates.
- What professional certifications and designations have you received related/relevant to the position you seek?
- What are the three most important functions of the Supervisor of Elections Office, how would you rate each, and what would you do to improve them?
- What changes, if any, would you like to make to the Supervisor of Elections Office policies and/or procedures?
If you don’t take the time to read each questionnaire in full, I strongly recommend that you read my summary of some of the responses.
CCREC Questionnaires
The three candidates also responded to a 67-point questionnaire from the Collier County Republican Executive Committee (CCREC) specifically focused on the voting and elections process, their qualifications for the Supervisor of Elections job, and what they would do if elected.
Among the questions addressed are:
- What election experience do you have, and what qualifies you for this job?
- How will you ensure the security of election systems and data?
- What will you do to reduce voting fraud?
- What will you do to ensure clean and up-to-date voter rolls?
- What will you do to verify U.S. citizenship before approving a voter registration application?
Again, if you don’t take the time to read each questionnaire in full, I strongly recommend that you read my summary of the responses to 15 of the 67 questions. It illustrates many significant differences between the candidates.
Analysis: Campaign Finance
Candidate Campaign Treasurer Reports of contributions and expenditures are available on the Collier County Supervisor of Elections website.
Here is a summary of the candidates’ filings to date:
I reviewed each candidate’s contributions and expenditures. Of note:
- Only Blazier qualified for the ballot by collecting signatures on petitions. The others qualified by paying a fee of $10,013.
- Monetary contributions reported above include candidates’ loans to their campaigns. Excluding their own money, Blazer and Guerrette raised roughly the same amount ($77,739 and $80,185, respectively). Guerrette raised twice as much in-kind (i.e., non-cash) contributions than did Blazier.
- Schaffel lags far behind in contributions and expenditures, and has so far largely self-funded his campaign. Two of his three $1,000 contributions (the maximum allowed under state law) are from the Friends of Chris Hall PAC and the Collier County Republican Executive Committee.
- Guerrette has significantly outspent both opponents.
This is already an expensive race. Together, the three candidates have spent nearly $150,000 and there are still seven weeks to go.
Click each link to see the candidates’ maximum $1,000 contributors:
Conclusion
As I noted above, there is a lot at stake in this election because it will, for all practical purposes, decide who our next Supervisor of Elections will be, and the three candidates offer very different choices.
Only you can decide which one you think would make a better Supervisor of Elections.
If you have questions about any of the candidates, don’t hesitate to contact them directly through their website.
If you have questions or need additional information about the election itself, visit the Collier County Supervisor of Elections website or call 239-252-8683.
Catch Up on What You Missed
These are several posts about the upcoming elections you might have missed:
- Florida’s Primary Election Process: a Primer Post, 2/6/24
- Collier County’s August Elections: What’s on the Ballot and How to Prepare, 5/19/24
- Collier School Board Election and Candidates, 6/11/24
- Collier County Voters’ Primary Election Ballot is Set, 6/16/24
- Collier Commission District 3 Candidates — August 2024, 6/27/24
- Collier Commission District 5 Candidates – August 2024, 6/29/24
Read all my posts about the 2024 elections here.