In the Nov. 3, 2026 election, voters in Lee County will decide the fate of a ballot referendum that could change how county commissioners are elected. Under the county’s Home Rule Charter, candidates are elected to represent a geographic district they must reside in, but the contests are voted on county-wide.
If approved, the ballot referendum would amend the charter so that only registered voters who live in a given county commission district would get to cast votes on who will represent their district.
That ballot referendum will be the topic of an informational session, Saturday, Feb. 7 from 9:30 - 11:30 a.m. at the East Regional Library on Gunnery Road in Lehigh Acres. The event, sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Lee County, will give attendees the chance to hear from experts and ask questions.
Speakers at the forum include ACLU of Florida attorney Nick Warren, Florida Gulf Coast University Political Science Professor Sandra Pavelka, Ph.D., and Lee County Property Appraiser and former state lawmaker Matt Caldwell.
Caldwell has long been a vocal proponent of changing back to single-member district voting in Lee County Commission races. When Lee County was created in 1887, commissioners were chosen through single-member district voting. That system remained in place until the Florida Legislature passed a law (HB 985) in 1951 that required all county commission candidates be elected at-large. The change took effect the following year.
In Florida’s 2025 legislative session, lawmakers passed a bill (HB 4001)sponsored by state Rep. Mike Giallombardo, R-Cape Coral, to place a referendum on the 2026 ballot proposing that Lee County Commission elections switch back to single-member district voting. Under the measure signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis, if the referendum passes, the change would take effect beginning in the 2028 election cycle.
When Giallombardo brought up the bill at Lee County Legislative Delegation meeting last year, state Rep. Jenna Persons-Mulicka, R-Fort Myers, (whose husband David Mulicka is a Lee County Commissioner) was the lone dissenting vote. She argues that if the change is adopted, Lee County voters would lose their ability to hold all county commissioners accountable.
Current Lee County District 2 Commissioner Cecil Pendergrass has also been a vocal opponent of the idea of switching to single-district voting, saying it could discourage commission members from needing to consider the issues of people outside their own district.
Supporters of the proposed change argue it would reduce the cost of running a campaign and allow for a more diverse field of grassroots candidates to compete.
They also argue it would allow for fairer and more direct representation, noting that in some past elections, the candidate preferred by voters in a given district, still didn’t end up winning. That’s what happened in the August 2024 GOP primary election for the Lee County Commission District 5 seat. The late Mike Greenwell defeated challenger Amanda Cochran in the countywide race, despite Cochran winning about 65% of the vote from residents who actually lived in the district.
Proponents of the change also point to the discriminatory history of the county-wide voting system, tying it to Jim Crow era policies designed to weaken and dilute the political voice of minority communities.
A 2022 article from Florida Politics quotes Caldwell making this connection. “For anyone who has taken the time to review the court briefings when single-member districts or at-large districts have been litigated, if you don’t come out absolutely convinced at-large elections are fundamentally a Jim Crow-style electoral structure, I don’t know what to say,” said Caldwell.
With an estimated population of more than 860,000 residents, Lee County is the largest among Florida’s 67 counties that still elects county commissioners through an at-large voting system.
Saturday’s League of Women Voters forum is free and open to the public. Residents can also attend virtually. For more information or to register, click here.
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