Final Bond Referendum Result on Hold

The City of Marco Island Bond Referendum came in at a dead heat with 50% voting yes and 50% voting no. Preliminary voting results show 2,257 for and 2,256 against. The first unofficial results from the Supervisor of Elections will be released Friday morning, where provisional ballots and cure vote by mail ballots will be reviewed. Once that has been completed, a recount can be officially ordered. A machine recount will occur first and if the results are within a quarter of one percent, then a manual recount follows. Final results are expected Friday afternoon.

In local races, Daniel Kowal has retained his seat as County Commissioner for District Four. Since both candidates in the race were from the Republican Party, it was an “open” ballot and registered Democrats were eligible to cast a vote. Kowal won with 70.7% of the vote.

The Greater Naples Fire Rescue Referendum passed with 59.0% voting yes. This changes the current election process for the five Board of Fire Commissioners. The yes vote means all voters in the District will be able to elect all five commissioners. Previously, two commissioners were elected by East Naples voters, two by Golden Gate voters, and one elected by all District voters. This will take effect beginning in the November 2028 election.

Everglades City voted yes by 69.2% on the City of Everglades City Referendum. The referendum is a local vote of interest to expand the Collier Mosquito Control District boundaries to include Everglades City. Since the Mosquito Control District is an independent special district, boundaries can only be changed by a special act of the Florida Legislature, so the referendum alone does not preclude acceptance. This yes vote is a first step in the process. The last time the state handled a boundary expansion in August 2022, it took nearly two years from a yes referendum vote to enactment.

At the state level, Republican Byron Donalds will face Democrat David Jolly for Governor, and Republican Ashley Moody will face Angie Nixon for the US Senator seat vacated by Marco Rubio. Governor DeSantis appointed Moody when Rubio left the Senate to become Secretary of State.

US District 22 Representative has Republican Casey Askar running against Democrat Pia Dandiya.

Republican Jim Schwartzel has secured the Republican nomination for US District 19 Representative. The Democrat opponent is still too close to call, with Howard Sapp at 44.5% of the votes and Victor Arias at 44.1% of the votes.

Collier County voter turnout was 26.4% for the 2026 Primary Election. Of 262,142 eligible voters, 69,153 cast ballots.

For a full accounting of how Collier County voted, go to the Supervisor of Elections website at colliervotes.gov. A pop-up will take you directly to the preliminary primary election results.