Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
‘Stomp on Jesus’ instructor running for office in 2020
Deandre Poole seeking to become Palm Beach supervisor of elections
Deandre Poole, who was the object of intense scrutiny for a Florida Atlantic University class exercise that became known as “stomp on Jesus,” is running in the 2020 election to become Palm Beach County supervisor of elections.
Poole ultimately was cleared of impropriety in connection with the 2013 incident — after he was subjected to a buzz saw of negative national publicity, death threats, a university investigation, concern from then-Gov. Rick Scott, and condemnation from Bill O’Reilly, who was then Fox News Channel’s top rated personality.
Poole, 32, has never run for office before. He said his involvement in Palm Beach County politics, community activism and grassroots organizing “are the kind of skills that this office needs.”
Also running is Paulette Armstead, 68. She ran for state House of Representatives in Broward County in 2016 and 2018. After the second loss, she said she changed her voter registration back to Palm Beach County and is running for elections supervisor.
She said her experience in executive leadership, budgeting, teaching and law give her the “diverse set of skills and work experience,” including work preparing budgets and working in community relations. ‘Stomp on Jesus’ Poole has experience in the glare of public attention.
Using an assignment in a textbook written by a professor at a Christian college, students in Poole’s class on FAU’s Davie campus were asked to write “J-E-SU-S” on a piece of paper, place it on the floor and step on it. It was a lesson on the impact of words and symbolism.
Few students actually stepped on the paper. One upset student complained to the media, and conservative outlets picked up on the controversy.
Poole has said people rushed to judgment based on lots of misinformation and few facts, he never used the word “stomp,” and the assignment wasn’t anti-Christian.
“It was an exercise that was misinterpreted. If I could do it over again, I would have made it my point to be more vocal and to do more interviews about it,” he said. “Looking back, that was one of the areas that I could have improved on.” Elections office The supervisor of elections runs all the elections in the
county, a job that can bring immense scrutiny because of the county’s relatively large size — the third most populous in Florida — and the state’s pattern of exceedingly close elections.
Last year, for example, Florida’s U.S. Senate race was decided by 10,033 votes out of almost 8.2 million votes cast. A race for state representative in Palm Beach County was decided by 32 votes out of 78,474 cast. Recounts dragged on for weeks.
“We were made the laughingstock, along with Broward County, the laughingstock of America. It was just unbelievable. I plan to fix those problems,” Armstead said.
Poole said the 2018 vote counting had a “tremendous impact” on voter confidence. “As leaders we owe it to the public to ensure that we have the staff, and that we have all the equipment that we need to ensure that we run a smooth election.”
Poole
Poole is a former vice chairman of the Palm Beach County Democratic Party. He spent eight years as a party officer.
He said his background in party politics shouldn’t concern the voters.
“My three points are integrity, efficiency and accuracy. What I’m hearing from people is they don’t trust that their vote will count,” he said. “People want to make sure that they have somebody in that office that they feel has the integrity to be able to ensure that if they send in an absentee ballot or if they go to the polls and vote it will count.”
Poole has taught intercultural communication and political communication at FAU for eight years.
He’s served as chairman of a criminal justice advisory board and on a sales tax advisory committee, both in West Palm Beach, and served as chairman of the board of an education nonprofit.
Armstead
Armstead said she “feel[s] the frustration of the voters, especially with what happened with our 2018 election, problems upon problems, with all of the recounts and just a lot of problems with the ballots.”
Armstead is lawyer, a former police officer and former deputy chief of police in St. Petersburg, and she taught criminal justice and police processes at the branch of the State University of New York in Brockport.
She said she relocated her law office to Palm Beach County in the late 1990s and maintained a dual residence in Broward for a time. “I kept my foot in both counties.”
Before her first run for state Legislature, she switched her voter registration to Deerfield Beach. After her second loss, she switched her registration back to West Palm Beach.
“I’m a die-hard Democrat,” she said. “I just believe in the Democratic values on opportunity for all, and inclusive democracy.”
Politics
Candidates don’t officially qualify for the ballot until June 2020, so more contenders could emerge.
Wendy Sartory Link, who was appointed supervisor of elections in January, has said she’s thinking about running for the job.
Since the 2004 election, the contests for elections supervisor, sheriff and property appraiser have been nonpartisan, and the candidates have run without Democratic or Republican affiliation.
But as a result of a Florida Supreme Court opinion in an Orange County case those positions in Palm Beach County will have Democratic and Republican primaries in August 2020 and a general election in November.