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Person

Kim Barton

Political Party:

Democrat
Office:

Alachua County Supervisor of Elections
Elected:

2016
Education:

University of Florida, College of Journalism and Communications

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Kim Barton is the supervisor of elections for Alachua County, Florida. 1 Barton is associated with several state and national associations, including the Center for Tech and Civic Life, a left-leaning organization best known for distributing $350 million in Mark Zuckerberg funded election grants in 2020, for which she sits on the advisory board. 2

In 2020, Barton organized a voter registration drive at the Alachua County Jail. The office registered numerous inmates who were ineligible to vote. 3 After a state criminal investigation, state prosecutors cleared Barton and her office of wrongdoing, but prosecuted several inmates. 4 In 2022, her office was again under scrutiny for hundreds of ballot errors. 5

Background

Kim Barton is the supervisor of elections for Alachua County, Florida and the first African American to be elected to that position. 6 The county is the home of the University of Florida, and the county seat is Gainesville, Florida. Barton oversees administering elections and voter registration in the county, which has more than 176,000 registered voters. 7

Barton was first elected supervisor of elections in August 2016. She was reelected without opposition in 2020. 8

Background and Early Career

Barton is the daughter of Everett Davis, Jr. and Gertrude Davis. She was born and grew up in Memphis, Tennessee. 9 She married James Barton, who is today a retired officer from the Florida Department of Corrections. 10

She graduated from high school in 1980 and earned a basketball scholarship to attend Connors State College in Warner, Oklahoma. At Connors, she and her team competed in its first National Junior College Athletic Association Tournament. She was named a First-Team NJCAA All-American. 11

Coach Debbie Yow recruited the future election supervisor to play NCAA Division I women’s basketball at Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma. After Yow became head coach of the University of Florida women’s basketball team, Barton followed and played there. 12

Barton graduated from the University of Florida’s College of Journalism and Communications in 1985 with a degree in advertising. 13

After graduation, Barton worked for the Florida Department of Health and Rehabilitative Service’s Medically Needy Program. 14

In 1993, Barton got a job at the Alachua County Supervisor of Elections office as its first outreach coordinator, working for then-Supervisor Beverly Hill. In 2006, Barton was promoted to outreach director. She remained in this position for a decade until her election to run the office. 15

Controversies

In July 2020, Barton organized a voter registration drive at the Alachua County Jail. Numerous inmates were found to be ineligible to vote. Barton said it was “categorically false” that her office intentionally registered ineligible voters. 16

In 2022, Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigator Tracey Rousseau, in her report, blamed the elections office for “the mass registering of inmates to vote without any inquiry into the person’s prior criminal history, proof of identity, [or] the satisfaction of prior legal financial obligations.” Rousseau acknowledged in the report that public officials aren’t required to check into these eligibility issues. 17

State’s Attorney Brian Kramer, a Republican, cleared Barton and Pyche of misconduct but brought felony voter fraud charges against 10 former inmates. 18 By March 2022, state prosecutors announced that no one in the elections office would be prosecuted. 19

In July 2022, the Alachua County Supervisor of Elections Office found that 896 ballots had errors. The ballots were meant to be sent to Precinct 27, for a state House District race, but were instead sent to Precinct 51, outside of the state House district. Upon discovering the error, Barton said, “No votes from Precinct 51 will be counted in the contest for House District 22.” This followed a previous discovery in 2022 that 970 voters in Precinct 27 received ballots that did not print candidates for the Gainesville mayoral race, or the Commission District 4 race. 20

Memberships

Barton is on the advisory committee of the Center for Tech and Civic Life, a left-leaning group best known for distributing $350 million in Mark Zuckerberg-funded election grants to local election offices in 2020. 21

Barton is a member of the Florida Supervisors of Elections, a state association of local election administrators. 22 She is also a member of the Election Center, also known as the National Association of Election Officials, which is made up of state and local election officials. 23

Barton is also a member of Florida Civic Advance’s Voter Education and Civic Engagement Workgroup. 24 In 2020, she became a member of the University of Florida’s University Athletic Association Board of Directors. 25

References

  1. “About the Supervisor.” Vote Alachua. Accessed January 13, 2023. https://www.votealachua.com/Supervisor/Kim-A-Barton
  2. “About the Supervisor.” Vote Alachua. Accessed January 13, 2023. https://www.votealachua.com/Supervisor/Kim-A-Barton
  3. Lugo, Alexander and Ilvento, Carolina. “5 Florida inmates face voter fraud charges after jailhouse registration drive.” Tampa Bay Times. March 31, 2022. Accessed January 13, 2023. https://www.tampabay.com/news/florida-politics/2022/03/31/5-florida-inmates-face-voter-fraud-charges-after-jailhouse-registration-drive/
  4. Ilvento, Carolina and Lugo, Alexander. “Alachua County Supervisor of Elections office employees cleared of wrongdoing in voter fraud probe.” WUFT. March 31, 2022. Accessed January 13, 2023.

    https://www.wuft.org/news/2022/03/31/alachua-county-supervisor-of-elections-office-employees-cleared-of-wrongdoing-in-voter-fraud-probe/

  5. WCJB Staff. “Alachua County Supervisor of Elections to send new vote-by-mail ballots after more errors.” WCJB. July 19, 2022. Accessed January 13, 2023. https://www.wcjb.com/2022/07/19/alachua-county-supervisor-elections-send-new-vote-by-mail-ballots-after-more-errors/
  6. “About the Supervisor.” Vote Alachua. Accessed January 13, 2023. https://www.votealachua.com/Supervisor/Kim-A-Barton
  7. “Advisory Committee.” Center for Tech and Civic Life. Accessed January 13, 2023. https://www.techandciviclife.org/advisory-committee/
  8. “About the Supervisor.” Vote Alachua. Accessed January 13, 2023. https://www.votealachua.com/Supervisor/Kim-A-Barton
  9. “About the Supervisor.” Vote Alachua. Accessed January 13, 2023. https://www.votealachua.com/Supervisor/Kim-A-Barton
  10. “About the Supervisor.” Vote Alachua. Accessed January 13, 2023. https://www.votealachua.com/Supervisor/Kim-A-Barton
  11. “About the Supervisor.” Vote Alachua. Accessed January 13, 2023. https://www.votealachua.com/Supervisor/Kim-A-Barton
  12. “About the Supervisor.” Vote Alachua. Accessed January 13, 2023. https://www.votealachua.com/Supervisor/Kim-A-Barton
  13. “About the Supervisor.” Vote Alachua. Accessed January 13, 2023. https://www.votealachua.com/Supervisor/Kim-A-Barton
  14. “About the Supervisor.” Vote Alachua. Accessed January 13, 2023. https://www.votealachua.com/Supervisor/Kim-A-Barton
  15. “About the Supervisor.” Vote Alachua. Accessed January 13, 2023. https://www.votealachua.com/Supervisor/Kim-A-Barton
  16. Lugo, Alexander and Ileto, Carolina. “5 Florida inmates face voter fraud charges after jailhouse registration drive.” Tampa Bay Times. March 31, 2022. Accessed January 13, 2023. https://www.tampabay.com/news/florida-politics/2022/03/31/5-florida-inmates-face-voter-fraud-charges-after-jailhouse-registration-drive/
  17. Schorsch, Peter. “Sunburn—The morning read of what’s hot in Florida politics.” Florida Politics. April 6, 2022. Accessed January 13, 2023. https://floridapolitics.com/archives/514076-sunburn-the-morning-read-of-whats-hot-in-florida-politics-4-6-22/
  18. Schorsch, Peter. “Sunburn—The morning read of what’s hot in Florida politics.” Florida Politics. April 6, 2022. Accessed January 13, 2023. https://floridapolitics.com/archives/514076-sunburn-the-morning-read-of-whats-hot-in-florida-politics-4-6-22/
  19. Ilvento, Carolina and Lugo, Alexander. “Alachua County Supervisor of Elections office employees cleared of wrongdoing in voter fraud probe.” WUFT. March 31, 2022. Accessed January 13, 2023. https://www.wuft.org/news/2022/03/31/alachua-county-supervisor-of-elections-office-employees-cleared-of-wrongdoing-in-voter-fraud-probe/
  20. “Alachua County Supervisor of Elections to send new vote-by-mail ballots after more errors.” WCJB. July 19, 2022. Accessed January 13, 2023. https://www.wcjb.com/2022/07/19/alachua-county-supervisor-elections-send-new-vote-by-mail-ballots-after-more-errors/
  21. “About the Supervisor.” Vote Alachua. Accessed January 13, 2023. https://www.votealachua.com/Supervisor/Kim-A-Barton
  22. “About the Supervisor.” Vote Alachua. Accessed January 13, 2023. https://www.votealachua.com/Supervisor/Kim-A-Barton
  23. “About the Supervisor.” Vote Alachua. Accessed January 13, 2023. https://www.votealachua.com/Supervisor/Kim-A-Barton
  24. “About the Supervisor.” Vote Alachua. Accessed January 13, 2023. https://www.votealachua.com/Supervisor/Kim-A-Barton
  25. “About the Supervisor.” Vote Alachua. Accessed January 13, 2023. https://www.votealachua.com/Supervisor/Kim-A-Barton
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