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A Few Surprises, And A Runoff, In The March 9 Palm Beach County Municipal Elections

Harold Goodman waits in line to vote in the presidential primary election in Mar at the Supervisor of Elections office in Delray Beach, Fla. This polling station was made available after some precincts in Palm Beach County were unable to open after poll workers did not report to work.
Miami Herald FILE
Voters in South Florida will decide crucial races on Tuesday.

This post has been updated.

Voters in Palm Beach County participated in more than a dozen municipal elections on March 9.

Here are few highlights from Lake Worth Beach, Boca Raton, and Delray Beach.

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City of Lake Worth Beach:

The Lake Worth Beach commission is known for its viral shouting matches during the early stages of the pandemic. Three incumbents sought re-election to Lake Worth Beach’s city commission, including the seat once held by now-State Rep. Omari Hardy.

After a controversial year of shouting matches over policy disputes, all three incumbents seeking reelection in the Lake Worth Beach commission were unseated.

Candidate Betty Resch unseated incumbent Mayor Pam Triolo, grabbing more than 50% of the vote.

Candidate Sarah Malega unseated District 1 incumbent Scott Maxwell. Malega grabbed 63% of the vote. And Kim Stokes grabbed more than 50% of the vote to defeat District 3 incumbent Andy Amoroso.

The District 2 race is going into a runoff. Neither Christopher McVoy or incumbent Carla Blockson received 50 percent of the vote.

The runoff will be held March 23.

If McVoy wins, Lake Worth Beach will have an all-white commission to govern a city that is more than 65% Black, Hispanic, and Indigenous.

Blockson was previously unanimously selected to fulfill Omari Hardy’s final term in District 2.

Boca Raton:

The city of Boca Ratonhad two, three-year term city council seats up for election and two charter amendment questions for voters.

Incumbent candidate Yvette Drucker won reelection to the city of Boca Raton council seat C, grabbing more than 50% of the vote.

And incumbent Monica Mayotte retained council seat D.

With more than 94% of the vote, Boca residents voted to amend residency requirements for city council candidates and mayors — it now requires candidates to be a resident for at least a year before running for office and disqualifies a candidate with a non-city homestead exemption.

Voters also voted yes to the second question, which required future candidates to provide a petition with at least 200 signatures from registered city voters instead of the current qualifying fee.

Delray Beach:

The City ofDelray Beach had three incumbent seats up for election.

In very tight race, incumbent Mayor Shelly Petrolia won reelection, defeating candidate Tracy Caruso, a business executive and wife of state Rep. Mike Caruso.

Petrolia won 50.71% to 49.29%.

Incumbent Commissioner Adam Frankel won reelection for seat 1, defeating former Palm Beach Post journalist Price Patton.

Incumbent Commissioner Ryan Boylston won reelection for seat 3, grabbing more than 60% of the vote.

There were no ballot questions for voters in Delray Beach.

For a complete rundown of election results, visit our news partner at the Palm Beach Post.

Wilkine Brutus is the Palm Beach County Reporter for WLRN. The award-winning journalist produces stories on topics surrounding local news, culture, art, politics and current affairs. Contact Wilkine at wbrutus@wlrnnews.org
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