Orange County supervisor of elections, Gilzean may face lawsuit after Mayor Demmings funding concern

Orange County supervisor of elections, Glen Gilzean, has allocated 2.1 million dollars for “The Glen Gilzean, Orange County Supervisor of Elections, Promise of the Future Scholarship Fund.”

The scholarship would be made to target Class of 2025 graduates from Jones and Evans High Schools who want to pursue cybersecurity at Valencia College or Orange Technical College. To qualify for the scholarship, the student must be registered to vote or preregistered if they are under 18 years old.

Gilzean believes that the scholarship is a good way to target young adults and incentivize them to vote.

The scholarships were not a part of the office’s budget request, however Gilzean says the funding was leftover after last years Presidential Preference Primary and general primaries.

This sparked concern in Orange County Mayor, Jerry Demmings, who argues that Gilzean should have returned those 2 million in funds to the county. He also believes it was wrong to use taxpayer dollars on a scholarship he named after himself. Now, Demmings is threatening a lawsuit, because Gilzean did not get approval to spend the extra funds on the scholarship.

State law says unused money must be returned to the county for commissioners to determine how to spend it. Orange county was expecting $800,000 in return money, which is a lower return value than average , but the office still came up short.

READ: Orange County schools cancel pep rallies amid scholarship controversy

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