When Melony Bell was a Fort Meade city commissioner in 2007, she and other leaders shifted the city’s elections from April to November.
Now that she is Polk County Supervisor of Elections, Bell would like to see all the municipalities still holding elections in April make the same move.
Currently, only four of Polk County’s 17 municipalities conduct elections in November: Auburndale, Fort Meade, Lakeland and Winter Haven.
Cities staging elections in April include Bartow, Frostproof, Haines City, Lake Wales, and Mulberry.
Bell said she believes that holding city elections in November would boost turnout and reduce costs for cities and Polk County. She suggested conducting the elections in “off years” from federal elections — for example, 2027 and 2029.
“We just have such a low turnout of voters, and people don’t realize that in April there are municipal elections,” Bell said. “Hopefully, all the cities will get on board to take the elections back to November.”
Seven cities and towns held elections in April 2025, and the overall participation rate was just 12.32%. Elections in both Lake Hamilton and Mulberry were decided by eight-vote margins.