Navarre straw poll results show majority of residents are against incorporation

A majority of Navarre residents who participated in a straw poll on Oct. 12 are against incorporation.

The final results showed 1,243, or 59 percent, were against incorporating, while 877, or 41 percent, were in favor.

There were 2,122 votes, with 237 voting in person and 1,885 in person.  Two voters abstained.

The straw poll, which was unofficial and non-binding, was meant to get an idea of how Navarre residents felt about incorporation. It was paid for by Preserve Navarre, the group pushing for incorporating Navarre, and organized by Honest Ballot LLC, a company from New York that has overseen elections of all sizes.

Preserve Navarre had pledged that it would not continue to pursue incorporating Navarre if the results showed the majority were against incorporation.

“We will abide by that. We’re not going to pursue the effort any further,” said Wes Siler, who has led the effort for Preserve Navarre.

State Rep. Dr. Joel Rudman agreed. He had vowed to file a bill for the incorporation of the city of Navarre Beach, had the majority of voters wanted to incorporate. Although the straw poll is not required by law, Rudman wanted to see the results before vowing to move forward.

And he’d also said he would only consider backing the incorporation of Navarre one time as long as he’s a state representative.

“As I stated many times, I was not going to waste the legislature’s time, resources, or money on a bill that Navarre did not want,” Rudman said in a Facebook post following the results. “As I pledged earlier this year, today’s result means the topic of incorporation is dead, not to be revisited for as long as I’m in Tallahassee. I thank every citizen who took time out on their weekend to vote. This matter is officially decided.”

Turnout

Siler said there were approximately 33,000 eligible voters who could’ve taken part in the straw poll.

That means about 6.5% of eligible voters participated in the election.

Past Results

The last time Navarre voters went to the polls to vote on possible incorporation was 2014.

And back then, 10,758 voters took part, with 55.7% voting against incorporation. That vote was held in November, on the general primary election ballot, which meant voters were also voting on other issues.

This time around there was only one question on the ballot.

What now?

The answer to that question is much simpler than if the majority had wanted to incorporate.

“There was a dream of what this could be, and that city only exists if the people want it,” Siler said. “Otherwise, it’s not worth doing.”

If the majority of voters had wanted to incorporate, then the future would’ve been much hazier.

Rudman had vowed to file a bill in the state legislature. However, State Senate candidate Don Gaetz said he wanted a non-binding referendum through the supervisor of elections before he’d back any kind of incorporation movement, which could’ve halted any momentum until 2026.

The only way to get a non-binding referendum on the ballot is through the Santa Rosa County Board of County Commissioners. Preserve Navarre tried to go that route over the summer, only for the commission to vote against adding it to November’s ballot.

That’s what led Preserve Navarre to pay Honest Ballot for the straw poll.

Siler said Preserve Navarre is still working to settle some bills involved with paying for the poll, calling it an expensive process.