DELRAY BEACH – Only a few days after an audit showed that the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections’ office had declared the wrong winners in two Wellington Village Council races, Delray Beach Mayor Nelson “Woodie” McDuffie has filed nomination papers to oppose Elections Supervisor Susan Bucher in the November 2012 election.
McDuffie said in a press release he has a total of 42 years of intense information technology experience. He currently works as the manager of information technologies at the Palm Beach County Property Appraiser’s office.
In his 18 years as manager, he said, he increased the level of automation in that office to handle the increase in workload of 258,000 new parcels, and did so with zero staff growth. He has managed the calculation of values and taxes on up to 658,000 parcels of real property and 58,000 Personal Property Accounts to produce 18 consecutive flawless tax rolls in Palm Beach County, McDuffie added.
He has been a member of the Delray Beach City Commission since 2007 and mayor since 2009.
Prior to joining the property appraiser’s office McDuffie spent 21 years working for a Fortune 100 company and managed the entire State of Florida Public Sector District. During his tenure, he automated school districts, tax collectors, hospitals, municipalities, counties, state colleges and law enforcement offices from Key West to Pensacola.
“I believe I bring a blend of skills and experience that can greatly improve the leadership we currently have at the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Office,” he said. “I can bring the management, operations, technical and political experience needed to improve the efficiency, effectiveness and most importantly accuracy of the services provided by the Supervisor of Elections office.”
“Our citizens deserve to have confidence that our voting process is being safeguarded and properly managed. In addition, for too long Palm Beach County has had a blemished record of voting that has embarrassed the residents of our county and put us in a negative spotlight that hurts our county’s image, our economy and our integrity,” McDuffie continued.
In addition to the Wellington snafu, McDuffie said the results of his own election for mayor in 2009 were delayed. He said he and his supporters had to wait until nearly 11 p.m. for municipal election results to be posted properly.
“We are one of the state’s largest counties and our voters are deciding on presidential, congressional and local elections, as well as other important issues,” McDuffie said. “They deserve to have their votes counted properly and the results provided in an accurate and timely manner.”
McDuffie is a native of Delray Beach, a former Army Staff Sergeant, and holds a B.S. in Management Science from Florida Atlantic University. His is married to Cindy, who is a public school teacher, and they have two children. McDuffie is also a member of the Greater Delray Beach Chamber of Commerce and serves on several boards including the Metropolitan Planning Organization and the South Florida East Coast Corridor Study.