Meet Our New Supervisor of Elections

Denise LaVancher knows she has some big shoes to fill (metaphorically speaking) replacing Shirley Anderson as the Hernando County Supervisor of Elections (SOE). However, she’s been Anderson’s right-hand person for 11 years, arriving at her position in 2013, less than two years after the current SOE took office. Therefore, LaVancher has had plenty of experience helping to manage the full-time staff and seasonal poll workers who are an integral part of the smooth working operations of the SOE office. Another important aspect of the job that she will be taking over on January 7 is being the face of the office to the more than 143,000 registered voters in the county.

Ms. LaVancher is practically a Brooksville native, having moved to the area in 1979 when she was just four years old. She attended the public schools here and graduated from Central High School. Then she went on to study at Pasco Hernando State College, which at that time was Pasco Hernando Community College. She has seen the growth of the county over the past 45 years, both in population and demographic makeup.

LaVancher’s background is in finance, which will assist her in handling a budget of more than $2.77 million. Her first job was at Timber Pines in the accounting department while she was a senior in high school, and she worked there for 4 years. Among other positions she held before coming to the Supervisor of Elections office was a bookkeeper at Explorer K-8 School.

The main goal of the incoming SOE is to “continue with the integrity of the electoral process through empowering each voter and take it to the next level with outreach for continuing education,” LaVancher states.

On January 7, they will be sending out new voter registration cards to each registered voter in order to update their voter rolls. It will include the location of their precinct, what party they belong to, and whether they have no party affiliation. They want to ensure the voters’ addresses are correct and that they haven’t moved out of the county. The Supervisor of Elections office can’t just arbitrarily remove someone from their rolls; it has to go through a statutory process in order to do that. To help make this process run smoothly, people should be looking for that mailing sometime after January and confirm that the information is correct. It’s especially important that voters know where their polling places are.

Sometimes, these locations change, and it can be frustrating for the voter if they arrive at the wrong location and are told that they have to go to a different place to vote.

Another of LaVancher’s goals is to do more outreach events at community locations and schools. They will be visiting civics classes at high schools and middle schools to educate the students and encourage them to vote when they’re old enough. These events will be announced on the SOE website (www.hernandovotes.gov) and on their social media platforms.

Some students aren’t aware that they can pre-register to vote at the age of 16. That way, when they turn 18, it’s a click of a button and they’ll receive their voter registration card.

Ms. Anderson leaves office on a high note in many respects. The following statistics demonstrate her accomplishments and the SOE staff. In the 2024 General Election, 111,628 out of 143,583 registered voters cast ballots. That’s a 77.74 percent turnout. The fact that there were five different early voting locations spread across the county, which were open on the weekends as well as during the week, made it convenient for the 48,981 people who voted early. 30,621 opted to vote by mail, which meant that they could either mail the ballot in or drop it in a secure box at both branches of the SOE office, as well as the early voting sites. The majority of people either voted by mail or voted early, leaving just 32,026 voting on election day. This made for a smooth process for the voters and the election workers on November 5. Ms. Anderson, her training assistant Kurt Glacy, and others on the staff provided training to the many people who worked at the polls checking people in, verifying a voter’s identity, monitoring the voting machines and other myriad duties.