Broward voters chose new tax collector and incumbents for elections supervisor and clerk of courts

Broward County voters chose three of its constitutional officers Tuesday, including the incumbents for elections office supervisor and clerk of courts as well as the first person to the newly created job of tax collector.

Tax collector

Broward voters chose a political newcomer for the first ever elected tax collector. The new tax collector, Abbey Ajayi, will perform duties that were previously handled by county employees.

Ajayi held various banking positions before she joined the county tax office in 2015, first as a special project coordinator, and worked her way up to operations manager of the division.

Ajayi beat two opponents in a tight race — political newcomer Dwight Forrest and Perry E. Thurston, an attorney who served 16 years in the Florida Legislature. Forrest runs the accounting section of the county’s Records, Tax & Treasury Division, where he said he supervises 14 employees.

Broward’s tax collector will issue car, truck and boat registration tags and titles, renew and update driver’s licenses, and collect property taxes and other tax payments. The job pays $215,501, with annual increases calculated in part based on population growth.

Broward County now must have an elected tax collector because of a change that was pushed by a statewide Constitution Revision Commission and approved by voters in the 2018 general election. Amendment 10 requires all counties to have an elected sheriff, tax collector, property appraiser, supervisor of elections and clerk of court.

The Broward tax collector race was open to all voters because the only three candidates are all Democrats.

“I am very excited to get started doing the work of the people,” Ajayi said late Tuesday. She said she has ideas for improvements for the office “that will benefit the community.”

Elections supervisor

Incumbent Joe Scott won a second term as elections supervisor. Scott last won four years ago by 607 votes — a slim margin — but Tuesday’s vote was a larger victory.

Scott’s challenger was Russell Roberto Bathulia, 62, a Democrat from Sunrise, whose campaign website describes him as a native of Trinidad who operates Top Jewels Yachts, a yacht service and sales company.

Among Scott’s credits is revamping the elections website, and he oversaw a relocation of the elections office from the Lauderhill Mall to a new headquarters, at 4650 NW 21st Ave. in Fort Lauderdale, earlier this month. The $103 million facility, funded by the County Commission, includes modern voting technology, increased office space, and enhanced security measures to prevent a replay of the 2018 protest outside the elections office where dozens of police officers showed up to “protect the ballots at all costs.”

After the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, security became the new focus for the new building.

The position pays $215,501, a rate set by the state.

“I am more fired up than ever,” he said by text Tuesday night. “With newfound experience and the same unwavering passion for this role, I am confident that the next four years will be nothing short of extraordinary.”

Clerk of courts

In the three-way race for clerk of courts, two political newcomers sought to unseat Broward Clerk of Courts Brenda D. Forman.

Forman won a third term to the administrative position.

The clerk of courts, whose salary is $215,501, manages all court records, including child-support payments, traffic fines, marriages, divorces and lawsuits. The Broward clerk manages jury selection for the state’s second-largest court system.

Forman, who was first elected in 2016 and re-elected in 2020, was challenged by two former employees: Annette Daniels and Charles F. Hall.

Forman fired Daniels, a clerk’s administrative assistant, when Daniels announced that she would run for the job. Hall, who worked there through 2021, said he resigned after a dispute with Forman over a potential reassignment.

“I thank all of the people who have trusted me over the last eight years who trusted me to do my job and thank them very, very much for voting me back into my seat to give me that trust one more time,” Forman told the South Florida Sun Sentinel on Tuesday evening by phone, as her supporters rejoiced in the background.

Lisa J. Huriash can be reached at moc.lenitnesnus@hsairuhl. Follow on X, formerly Twitter, @LisaHuriash