Karen Castor Dentel, 55, a dedicated public servant who has served in the Florida House of Representatives and is currently representing District 6 on the Orange County School Board, wants to switch gears and head up the Supervisor of Elections office. The position pays $205,000.

She’s facing a crowded field that includes former Orange County Democratic Party Chair Wes Hodge, attorney Dan Helm and realtor Sunshine Linda-Marie Grund.

The date of the race is uncertain because Helm is suing independent candidate Cynthia Harris, accusing her of improperly paying her qualifying fee to run and then forging a document to cover it up.

A trial is set for Aug. 13, a week before the Aug. 20 primary. Chief Judge Lisa Munyon of the Ninth Judicial Circuit Court will decide whether Harris should be removed from the ballot and the primary opened to all voters or if the entire race should be held Nov. 5.

Meanwhile, early voting will take place Aug. 5-18, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily. Check our list for locations. The deadline to request a mail-in ballot is Aug. 8. Ballots must be received by the Supervisor of Elections office by 7 p.m. on Aug. 20.

A political family

Castor Dentel grew up in Hillsborough County in a political family, “surrounded by campaigns and elections,” she told VoxPopuli in an interview. Her mother was elected twice as state senator and served as state education commissioner while her father was a Hillsborough County Court judge. Her sister is a congresswoman, representing the 14th Congressional District.

A former teacher, Castor Dentel began her public service when she defeated Republican incumbent State Rep. Scott Plakon to capture the District 30 seat. She ran her campaign on funding public schools, private school vouchers and expanding early voting locations, issues her opponent ignored.

Castor Dentel said she’s now running for elections supervisor because she sees a responsibility to ensure the elections process works as intended for her community. She believes the office can communicate more effectively with voters by showing up at schools and community events and engaging on social media.

In addition to her experience as an elected lawmaker, Castor Dentel said she has experience negotiating with government employees and if elected, she would create a “work culture” where employees “believe in the mission and the cause.”

“I have worked really hard at being held accountable to my constituents, being responsive and building trust,” said Castor Dentel. “So I think that trust element and working hard for constituents and being responsive allows me to get started on the right foot.”

Voter education

A former teacher, educating others is never far from Castor Dentel’s mind. She’d like the supervisor of elections office to give school presentations about the nuts and bolts of elections and voting to explain the different ways one can vote, how to request a mail-in ballot and what a polling place is.

She also wants to reach out to voters from other cultures and who speak languages other than English through events, email and social media to ensure they understand the elections process as well.

“There’s a lot of work to be done, and I see that education is so important in our communication with citizens in educating our young and new voters,” she said. “That was kind of what steered me into this direction that I knew that we could do more. Now a lot of the role of the supervisor is education.”

Voter registration

Castor Dentel said she would focus much of her energy as elections supervisor on increasing voter registration among high school juniors and seniors. Students can pre-register to vote starting at 16.

In April she worked with the Supervisor of Elections office and the League of Women Voters to coordinate tables at 14 high schools where graduating seniors return their laptops and pick up their caps, gowns and yearbooks. They registered 900 students to vote.

As a school board member, Castor Dentel also participates in high school graduations, shaking hands with graduates after they receive their diplomas and make their way across the stage. She always takes the opportunity to ask, Are you registered to vote?

“I thought that was important, that as you’re leaving [for] another level, you know, preparation for life,” she said. “I was dismayed that so many kids were not. They would say no or I don’t know. So I’ve been working these last few years, trying to figure out what is the best way to make sure that they understand it’s important and that they should go ahead and register.”

Voter outreach

Castor Dentel would like to see satellite Supervisor of Elections offices added throughout the county — like bank branches or post offices. She noted it can be difficult for some residents to get to the downtown Orlando office. Adding additional offices could help “increase registration” and create more “visibility.” This could be supplemented even further with mobile units, she added.

“Having mobile units go out and be present in senior centers and neighborhood centers, at different events like fireworks in the park in July where you have so many people who are there to celebrate America,” Castor Dentel said. “What a great time to make sure that we are out in force, registering voters and updating the registration and making sure signatures are still valid.”

Maintaining transparency

Florida statute mandates that all mail-in voting tabulating machines and 5 percent of precinct tabulating machines be tested publicly to ensure accuracy ahead of an election. Castor Dentel said that if elected, she would post video of the test on the Supervisor of Elections social media for those who couldn’t attend in person but wanted to see it done.

Castor Dentel said former Supervisor of Elections Bill Cowles was well liked because there was no drama surrounding elections that he oversaw. “I’d like to keep that, just making sure that it works for everyone and that people are invited in,” Castor Dentel said. “You can see the process and just maintain an office that is focused on customer service.”

Preparing for a contested election

Republicans are already laying the groundwork for legal challenges to the 2024 election, bringing lawsuits in Nevada and Arizona to purge voting rolls and block mail-in ballots from being counted if received after Election Day. Some Republicans have accused Democrats of staging a coup when they cajoled President Joe Biden off the ballot. 

Republican presidential nominee and convicted felon Donald Trump has said he will contest the outcome of the 2024 general election if the results are not “fair and legal.” His refusal to accept his loss in 2020 is what led to the Jan. 6 insurrection and Florida’s many voting restrictions against nonexistent voter fraud.

Even so, Castor Dentel doesn’t believe we’ll see another violent Jan. 6-type incident. She said that while she would still prepare for suppression and intimidation at the polls, she just doesn’t see the same type of animosity and outcry from voters as in 2020.

“We used to see, a couple years ago, lots of visible protests and people who were out and about on street corners and waving flags. We don’t really see that right now,” Castor Dentel said. “I mean, I think no matter who you are, I think people want their votes to count. I don’t sense any difficulties.”