“It wasn’t easy collecting so many petitions,” said Bennett, “but I believe we have the hardest-working, most-organized campaign and this effort is a testament to that.”
Bennett said he and his volunteers have spent the last two weeks working to collect enough signatures to put him over the top. “We’ve collected petitions from voters throughout this City, from the neighborhoods of Pinellas Point to Riviera Bay, from Pasadena Shores to Crescent Heights.” Bennett said he collected the 1,000th petition sometime at the St. Paul’s Festival or at Blues Fest.
Bennett has already begun to submit his petitions to the City Clerk’s office so that the verification process could begin. He will continue to collect and submit petitions in case some petitions, as expected, are rejected because they cannot be read or the information does not match with current voter information.
“We’ve collected well more than 1,000 signatures because occasionally some petitions cannot be verified by the Supervisor of Elections,” said Bennett, who also stated that Mayor Rick Baker signed one of his petitions. “I’m sure the Mayor agrees that everyone deserves the opportunity to be on the ballot.”
