In an historic election Nov. 4, residents of Fort Myers Beach voted to recall town council members John King and Karen Woodson, but whether or not King will actually be removed from office remains to be seen after Circuit judge Kyle Cohen, on the day before the election, ordered a stay on the recall results pending an appeals court decision.
Fort Myers Beach residents began the recall effort back in May after John King and Karen Woodson voted in support of a high-rise development project on the former site of the Red Coconut RV Park, which was destroyed during Hurricane Ian.
Members of the town planning board found the proposal to be incompatible with the town’s comprehensive plan.
According to unofficial results from the Lee County Supervisor of Elections Office, of the 1,652 ballots cast, 63.59% voted to remove Woodson from office and 63% voted to recall King.
This marks the first successful recall by voters of an elected official in Lee County in nearly 75 years.
Fort Myers Beach voters also cast ballots on who would replace Woodson and King if the recall was successful and that proved to be a close race.
Businesswoman Rebecca Link won just 11 more votes than retired executive Tom Brady.Both candidates garnered a little of 42% of the vote. The Lee County Elections Office will determine whether to initiate a recount on Friday after provisional ballots are vetted and the first unofficial results are reported to the canvassing board.
If an appeals court upholds the recall election for King, the recount would be moot, as both Brady and Link would earn seats on the town council.
Self-described pro-development candidate Ed Rood was soundly defeated in Tuesday's election with 15.29% of the vote, despite having raised more campaign funding than Brady and Link combined.
Voter turnout was higher than expected with nearly 49% of eligible voters casting ballots.
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