ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Orange County commissioners unanimously voted Tuesday to withhold funding from Supervisor of Elections Glen Gilzean because of alleged misuse of funds.

It is the latest in an ongoing tug-of-war between the county and the Supervisor of Elections office surrounding a surplus of funds.

Of the $4 million surplus the elections’ office received after the election, Gilzean used $2.1 million to fund debt-free scholarships to Valencia College students.

While Gilzean said his office returned more than $700,000 in unused funding to the county, Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings considered legal action against Gilzean, saying he should have returned all the leftover money to the county.

“Our office acted well within the law to establish these scholarships and will vigorously defend our mission to expand voter participation and improve the lives of Orange County citizens,” said Gilzean. 

CareerSource also received $1.9 million in additional funding, but has since refunded the money back to the Supervisor of Elections office. 

What You Need To Know

  • Orange County Mayor and commissioners voted to withhold funding to the county’s Supervisor of Elections office due to fears over inappropriate spending of funds

  • Supervisor of Elections, Glen Gilzean, at the center of the controversy because of his spending record

  • Of the remaining $4 million surplus following the elections, the Supervisor of Elections was supposed to return the money to the county

  • Instead, Gilzean donated over $5 million dollars to Valencia College and CareerSource, to fund student scholarships and program costs

The county is now questioning Gilzean’s spending record on non-budgetary expenses dating back to Oct. 2, after a “confidential informant” told commissioners that the elections office wired more than $1.1 million to a Central Florida nonprofit on that date.

In response to the backlash he faced from the county, Gilzean posted photographic evidence of those records that he sent through UPS and by PDF, Monday afternoon on the social media platform X.

Given Demings background in law enforcement, he said he’s extra weary of politicians who faced investigations for misuse of funds.

“I’m not necessarily saying that in this instance, but the alarms are there, is what I’m saying to the public,” Demings explained, saying he would have appreciated the consultation from the office on how to administer the funds.

“If he had asked us to do that, and we were part of a decision-making process to say ‘OK,’ those issues are issues for our community,” Demings added.

However, Gilzean said he has nothing to hide.

“Florida statutes 129.201 clearly states that I have the authority to utilize these resources in the best interest of the office,” Gilzean said in an interview with Ybeth Bruzual on Spectrum News’ Political Connections.

With Orange County being the fourth largest county in the state, Gilzean said his goal for this past election season was to use extra funds to invest back into the people of Orange County and increase voter participation among the younger generation.

“In a nutshell, as we saw in the last election cycle, we desperately needed to increase early voting sites and with this contract, what this does, it adds six additional new sites,” Gilzean explained during a press conference on Tuesday.

It would provide an additional six sites to the current 22 voting locations in the county. 

Gilzean is hoping that more voting locations will become available through this contract with Valencia College and is calling on the next supervisor of elections to do the same.

However, the incoming supervisor of elections for Orange County, Karen Castor Dentel, said she feels apprehensive entering her new role amid this feud.

“I would really like to have all the ducks in a row before we get into office in January because we have municipal elections starting in March,” Dentel expressed.

When asked by Demings whether those taxpayer dollars are at least being used to pay Gilzean’s staff, County Comptroller Phil Diamond said it’s not a guarantee.

“Since he has denied access, I can’t tell you for sure,” Diamond said during Tuesday’s city commission meeting.

Jennifer Lane, who also attended Tuesday’s meeting, has volunteered at Precinct 531 as a clerk since 2008. She said things have gotten particularly worse there this past year.

“We have yet to receive, as the building that rented out the space for the precinct, any of the money for March, August or November,” Lane explained.

Diamond said that he will provide Demings and Orange County commissioners with an update of the records to determine whether there have been any inappropriate spending of funds at the next county commission meeting.