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LEE COUNTY, Fla. \u2014<\/p>\nLEE COUNTY, Fla. \u2014<\/p>\n
In November, Lee County voters will see a referendum on their ballot that, if it passes, could change how their county commissioners are elected.<\/p>\n
Voters will decide if Lee County will remain in an at-large voting system or transition into single-member districts. Here’s everything you need to know about the Referendum Providing for the Structure of the County Legislative Branch.<\/p>\n
>> Click here for the 2026 Gulf Coast News General Election Voter’s Guide<\/a><\/p>\n What the Referendum Means<\/p>\n Lee County is divided into five commission districts, each with its own county commissioner. Right now, the county runs with an at-large voting system for its commissioner elections.<\/p>\n If enough residents vote “yes” on this ballot measure, Lee County would transition into a system with single-member districts.<\/p>\n This referendum came to be after a bill introduced by State Representative Mike Giallombardo (R-77) passed unanimously in the Florida Senate and was signed off by Gov. Ron DeSantis in June 2025.<\/p>\n Supporters of the change say that the new voting system would be more fair and allow for more direct representation. <\/p>\n Opponents say that the change would prevent voters from holding all county commissioners accountable, and that it would discourage county residents from caring about issues concerning a specific district, sowing division.<\/p>\n At-Large vs. Single-Member<\/p>\n An at-large voting system, the one that Lee County is currently running with, means that when it comes time to elect a county commissioner for a specific district, voting is open to every single resident of Lee County who can vote.<\/p>\n This currently means that a resident who lives in District 1 can vote on who will become the county commissioner for District 5.<\/p>\n With a single-member voting system, only residents of the district that a candidate for county commissioner is running in can vote in that election.<\/p>\n This would mean that only a resident of District 5 can vote on who will be the commissioner for District 5.<\/p>\n What Does a County Commissioner Do?<\/p>\n County Commissioners serve as the governing body of a county. In Florida, counties must be divided into five or seven districts that are nearly equal in population or proportion. County Commissioners:<\/p>\n Approve the county budgetSet the tax rateEnact local lawsPass regulations<\/p>\n Each commissioner in a district will represent and reside in the district that they’re elected in.<\/p>\n DOWNLOAD\u202fthe free\u202fGulf Coast News app<\/a>\u202ffor your latest news and alerts on breaking news, weather, sports, entertainment, and more on your phone or tablet. And check out the Very Local Gulf Coast app<\/a> to stream news, entertainment and original programming on your TV.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LEE COUNTY, Fla. \u2014 In November, Lee County voters will see a referendum on their ballot that, if…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":443903,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[11591,172971,172979,22439,209,211,210,1830,172972,43797,172976,1290,30347,172975,172980,23229,7887,172969,2715,104,172973,4215,34220,7289,213,356,172968,172974,172977,32653,60772,172978,172970,172981,144825,16663,171784,221],"class_list":["post-443902","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-2026-election","tag-at-large-voting","tag-at-large-voting-system","tag-ballot","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news","tag-change","tag-commission-elections","tag-commissioner-election","tag-county-budget","tag-county-commissioner","tag-county-commissioners","tag-county-legislative-branch","tag-county-resident","tag-district-1","tag-district-5","tag-district-only-voting","tag-elections","tag-entertainment","tag-florida-referendum","tag-florida-senate","tag-general-election","tag-gov-ron-desantis","tag-late-news","tag-lee-county","tag-lee-county-referendum","tag-lee-county-voters","tag-local-laws","tag-mike-giallombardo","tag-november-ballot","tag-single-member-district","tag-single-member-districts","tag-specific-district","tag-tax-rate","tag-voter","tag-voter-guide","tag-weather"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443902","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=443902"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443902\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/443903"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=443902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=443902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=443902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}