López elected sheriff; Booth, Arrington win seats

Internet outage delays reporting of results until after 11 p.m.

Marco López sailed to victory in the race to be Osceola’s top cop, while Republican Ricky Booth and Brandon Arrington won seats on Osceola’s Board of County Commissioners on an Election Night marred by an Internet outage that delayed the reporting of results until after 11 p.m.

Elections Supervisor Mary Jane Arrington said a fiber cable was cut, which knocked the Internet out to her office shortly after 7 p.m. when polls closed. That meant crews had to drive ballots to her office to be uploaded manually, delaying tabulating by several hours.

But when the counting was done, López notched a decisive victory as Osceola Sheriff Tuesday night. He had more than double the votes received by his opponent Luis “Tony” Fernandez, who was running with no party affiliation.

Ricky Booth, a Republican, defeated Tahitianna Chaffin, a Democrat, for the District 5 seat on the Board of County Commissioners, winning 61% of the vote.

Incumbent Commissioner Brandon Arrington, a Democrat, was re-elected as well, more than doubling his next closest competitor in Jeff Hawk. Arrington won 62% of the vote.

López, who was fired from the sheriff’s office after filing to run against Gibson, became the first

Hispanic elected sheriff in Osceola. He served 22 years in the U.S. Navy and said he wants to implement a citizen review board at the sheriff’s office.

He said the board would have advise him on the agency’s budget and on disciplinary action against deputies accused of misconduct.

López also said he plans to test having social workers embed with his deputies on non-violent calls, similar to plans announced by the Orlando Police Department.

Booth, a school board member, is the lone Republican on the fivemember board. The seat was vacated by Fred Hawkins Jr., also a Republican, who gave it up to run for State House.

Booth ran on a message of curtailing out of control growth and has said he’d be able to work effectively with the Democrats on the board while sticking to his conservative principles.

Elsewhere on the Osceola County ballot, Property Appraiser Katrina Scarborough and Supervisor of Elections Mary Jane Arrington defeated NPA candidates to secure new terms in their offices.

Voters in Kissimmee and St. Cloud were also choosing a mayor this year.

Olga Gonzalez defeated Angela Eady by a 56-44% margin, while incumbent Nathan Blackwell defeated Chris Robertson in St. Cloud by a 54-46% margin.