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Earl K. Wood sure as hell didn’t let a little thing like his own death stop him from winning an election one final time.
He was first elected as Orange County as Tax Collector in 1964 and held the seat up until his death on October 15th. At 96-years-old, Wood, a Democrat, had originally planned to forgo reelection this year, but when his old political foe, former Orange County Mayor Rich Crotty, decided to jump in the race, Wood reversed course and decided to run one final time.
Crotty never entered the race, but eventual Republican candidate Republican Jim Huckeba ran on a platform that would have eliminated the job as an elected office in the first place.
Despite being dead, Wood beat Huckeba with a comfortable 56 to 44 margin.
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Of course, the local Democratic party already has a contingency plan. Though Wood’s name remained on the ballot, the party had selected Scott Randolph, an outgoing state legislator, to replace him as their candidate. All of Wood’s votes counted for Randolph.
Wood had become somewhat controversial in recent years. He relied on a wheelchair, and was criticized for hardly ever coming into his office despite collecting his $150,000 salary and $90,000 pension.
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