Elinor Scricca kept tapping on a placard she brought to the podium repeating over and over again, “Vote for Elinor.”

More than 120 people turned out last week to attend a Candidates Forum put on by the Lehigh Acres Community Council. And more than 50 candidates turned out to ask them for their vote, most in the upcoming Primary election on Aug. 24. Some candidates also showed up who will not be on the ballot until Nov. 2. The forum was held Aug. 5 at the Lehigh Senior High School auditorium.

Tammy Baker, a member of the Community Council, was in charge of pulling the program together. It began officially at 6 p.m., but candidates and their supporters were on hand a half hour earlier maintaining tables in the entrance halls to the auditorium of the school.

Candidates brought piles of campaign literature and almost to the one, candidates had store-bought cookies and candies for the taking.

If you wanted to meet a candidate and ask them anything, this was the time, prior to the program on the school’s stage where only candidates were allowed to speak with no questions from the audience, due to time restraints.

Master of ceremonies for the forum was Trey Radel, host of the popular Daybreak radio show and former WINK-TV anchorman.

Thomas Scott is running against Elinor Scricca.

Damon Shelor, president of the Lehigh Acres Community Council, welcomed those who attended and handed it over to Radel who with an assistant, kept a time clock going, allowing each candidate two or three minutes to talk. The times were determined if they had competition in the Primary or if they were coming up for election in November. Candidates were given two and three minutes to make their appeal.

The auditorium at Lehigh Senior High School probably seats a thousand when filled. Those who attended sat all over the auditorium scattered about, rather than gathering in the front.

And as each candidate spoke, the crowd would dwindle down finally to about 30 when the final candidates for the Board of the Lehigh Fire Department and the East Water Control District spoke. But their time was short and they will be given more time on October 16 when the Community Council plans to do the same thing at Veterans Park.

Many of the candidates had their timing down to the second by reading a prepared speech while others spoke off the cuff. When the candidate had only a minute left, emcee Radel waved his hand in the air and the candidate ended within seconds.

The first candidate to speak at a little after 6 p.m. was James Roach. He is running for the U.S. House of Representatives in the 14th Congressional District.

Matt Caldwell from Lehigh is running for State Representative District 73.

“I think I’ve met 150,000 of you,” he laughed. He was followed by William St. Claire who said we need to focus more on education than we are.

As the evening progressed, two topics of concern were noticeable: taxes and jobs. And each candidate had a remedy to improve the present conditions. Everyone said they would not vote for a tax hike. Those words echoed out over and over again.

The program did not allow any questions from the audience, but those who attended were encouraged to meet with the candidates in the entrance to the cafeteria with questions.

Most of that part of the program began long before the speeches began in the auditorium. The vestibule to the auditorium was packed with tables and candidates and enough political literature to fill barrels.

Some bragged that they went to the people and gathered signatures to qualify to run while others raised money to sign up for the campaigns.

Sonny Haas, from Lehigh, is running for Lee County Commission, Seat 2.

One of the lighter moments came with Elinor Scricca came to the podium with a giant-sized placard urging voters to vote for her.

“Just remember ‘vote for Elinor’ she kept repeating as she kept tapping the sign. She had been preceded by opponent Thomas Scott. Scricca was quick to discount his claims. Both are running for the Lee county School Board District 5 seat which represents the east side of the county.

Also on hand were candidates most people have never seen, those running for judges’ seats and those running for Lee County Mosquito Control.

Candidates also running for the Lee Memorial Hospital Board District 4 and 5 were on hand, most all of them, except for Lehigh’s Frank LaRosa who was out of town on hospital business, according to a handout.

Toward the end, candidates such as Neal Horrom for the ECWCD Seat 2 spoke for a couple of minutes, followed by Mike Bonacolta, Kenneth Thompson , Dewey Tyler and Charlie DeFelice, who are seeking Seat 4. Linda Carter and Whitey Doidge asked voters to put them in Seat 2 of the Lehigh Acres Fire Commission and Kevin Shea, the last candidate to speak, was the only one to ask for support to fill Seat 3 in the fall election.

Bob Chilmonik speaks from the forum seeking a seat on the Lee County Commission.

Overall, the Community Council kept thing moving at a prescribed pace. They had planned for the program to end at around 9 p.m., but because of the signals from the emcee, and updates of who was there from Community Council member Rick Anglickis, candidates kept to their time limits and left the stage. The whole program was over at around 8:45 p.m., a quarter of an hour ahead of schedule.

Few candidates remained at the end as tables were quickly emptied and the goodies that were not eaten were taken home.

Sharon Harrington, supervisor of elections for Lee County, has mailed out sample ballots for the Aug. 24 Primary to every voter in the county. The names of candidates for both the Republicans and the Democrats are on the ballot with the Democrat column much leaner than the Republican column. Some races are non partisan such as the school board race. Early voting begins two weeks before the election. In Lehigh, voters can cast their ballots at the East County Regional Library. And of course, voters may file absentee ballots.

Candidates who appeared included:

U.S. House of Representatives, James Roach and William St. Claire.

Governor, Peter Allen, only independent candidate in the race.

State Representative for District 73, Matt Caldwell, Deanna Casalino.

State Senator for District 27, Mike LaMeyer and Sharon Merchant.

Lee County Commissioner Dist. 1, Chris Berardi, Bob Chilmonik, Mike Jackson, Carla Johnston and John Manning.

Lee County Commissioner Dist. 2, Brian Bigelow, Sonny Haas, Cecil Pendergrass, Dick Ripp and Debbie Jordan.

Lee County Commission Dist. 4, Tammy Hall, Debbie Jackow.

Lee County Court judges, GR3, Robert Branning, Miguel Fernandez III, Frank Mann Jr. and David Shestokas.

Lee County Court judges, GR4, Eric Feichthaler and Archie Hayward.

Lee County School Board, Dist. 1, Mary Fischer, John Traube and Arnold Gibbs.

Lee County School Board, Dist 4, Don Armstrong and Steven Teuber.

Lee County School Board Dist 5, Thomas Scott and Elinor Scricca.

Lee Memorial Hospital Board Dist 4, Gary Eidson, Chris Hansen, Dawson McDaniel. Lee Memorial Hospital Board Dist. 5, Donald Brown, Tyler Dupuy and Donnie Laubheimer.

East Water Control Dist. Seat 2, Neal Horrom.

East County Water Control Dist. Seat 4, Mike Bonacolta, Kenneth Thompson, Dewey Tyler and Charlie DeFelice.

Mosquito Control District, Area 2, Joseph Burgess and Sarah Larsen.

Lehigh Acres Fire Commissioner, Seat 2, Linda Carter and Whitey Doidge.

Lehigh Acres Fire Commissioner Seat 3, Kevin Shea.