Trustee elections — Barefoot Bay, Florida

Barefoot Bay Recreation District trustees are elected on the November ballot by registered voters who live inside the district, in an election the Brevard County Supervisor of Elections runs for Precinct 304 (Supervisor of Elections, 2023 notice).

Every Supervisor of Elections notice for Barefoot Bay repeats the same rule: only registered voters who reside within the boundaries of the Barefoot Bay Recreation District are eligible to vote in this election. A Barefoot Bay lot owner who is registered to vote at an address outside the district is therefore not eligible to vote in the trustee race.

Section 418.302 is the state law behind the Barefoot Bay vote (Section 418.302). It has the trustees elected by the electors of the district, requires each candidate to be a qualified elector of the district, and lets the county supervisor of elections charge the district a reasonable reimbursement for conducting the election, paid out of the district's general funds. The district's own page names the polling place: Building A, 625 Barefoot Blvd, Barefoot Bay (BBRD Election Information).

The Brevard County Supervisor of Elections lists the 2026 Barefoot Bay Recreation District Trustee race with 2 seats available and three qualified candidates for the November 3, 2026 General Election (Supervisor of Elections, 2026 Candidates).

The district's own Election Information page, read the same day, still describes the 2026 Barefoot Bay election as one trustee seat for a term of three years (BBRD Election Information). The Supervisor of Elections list shows each of the three candidates as qualified in June 2026. One of the three Barefoot Bay candidates is shown as having met the petition requirement on May 12, 2026 before qualifying on June 8, 2026.

Barefoot Bay voters who want to vote early can use any Brevard early voting site from October 19 through October 31, 2026, open 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on weekdays and 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on weekends (Supervisor of Elections, Early Voting). On Election Day itself the Supervisor of Elections sends voters only to their precinct polling place, which for the district is Building A.

Mail voting is the third route for Barefoot Bay residents. The Supervisor of Elections set Thursday, October 22, 2026 by 5:00 p.m. as the last day to request a mail ballot to be sent for the 2026 General Election, and requests can be made online through its Mail Ballot Request Service (Supervisor of Elections).

Barefoot Bay trustees now win three-year staggered terms under Chapter 2022-234, Laws of Florida, which let the Brevard County Commission amend the district charter subject to a November 2022 referendum of district voters (Chapter 2022-234).

General law had set two-year terms with an election every year, and Chapter 2022-234 overrides Section 418.302(3) for Barefoot Bay alone. The act phased in the change over two Barefoot Bay elections, to stagger the election cycle, in the words of the act's title.

The Legislature had already capped Barefoot Bay service once. Chapter 2017-202, approved by the Governor June 6, 2017, allowed a charter limit of three successive complete 2-year terms (Chapter 2017-202). The 2022 act, approved June 24, 2022, replaced that section if voters approved the new terms (Chapter 2022-234, page 2). Its rule now reads: no more than 3 successive complete 2-year terms or 2 successive complete 3-year terms, and a trustee may not serve more than 6 consecutive years.

The district's Board of Trustee Rules carry the same schedule and limits into Barefoot Bay practice (BBRD Board of Trustee Rules, page 2). A trustee who reaches the cap must sit out at least 3 years, and time served by appointment to fill a vacancy does not count toward the limit.

A Barefoot Bay resident runs for trustee by qualifying with the Brevard County Supervisor of Elections, whose Candidate Coordinator answers at Candidate@VoteBrevard.gov or 321-290-VOTE (8683) (BBRD Election Information).

Candidates who file receive a Candidate Packet listing the requirements for the Barefoot Bay seat. In 2026 the County and Special District qualifying window opened at noon on June 8 and closed at noon on June 12, and qualifying took place in the Supervisor of Elections offices in Titusville and Viera rather than in Barefoot Bay.

State law spells out a petition route. Under Section 418.302, a person who wants a place on the Barefoot Bay ballot presents a written petition signed by the applicant and not fewer than 25 other electors of the district to the county supervisor of elections at least 60 days before the election (Section 418.302). The timing has moved with the ballot: for the November 2, 2021 Municipal and Special Districts Election, the Barefoot Bay qualifying period ran from noon August 23 to noon August 27, 2021 (Supervisor of Elections, 2021 notice).

A newly elected Barefoot Bay trustee takes office on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in January following the November election, under the district's Board of Trustee Rules (Board of Trustee Rules, page 2).

Within fourteen days after that Tuesday, the Barefoot Bay board organizes itself by choosing a Chairperson, two Vice-Chairmen, a Secretary and a Treasurer from among its members, and those officers serve one year. New trustees are sworn in at a public ceremony, which records the actual date they assume office.

Seats that open between elections are not filled by a special vote. Section 418.302(5) has the remaining Barefoot Bay trustees appoint a successor from among the qualified electors of the district for the unexpired term (Section 418.302), and the district rules seat that person at the next regular board meeting.

Winning a Barefoot Bay seat brings duties the moment the term starts. Section 418.302(4) requires any trustee authorized to sign district checks or handle district funds to execute a $10,000 bond with a qualified corporate surety before taking on those duties, approved by a circuit judge of Brevard County, with the premium paid by the district (Section 418.302). The rules also ask newly elected Barefoot Bay trustees who have never attended one to go to the next Florida Association of Special Districts conference (Board of Trustee Rules, page 7).

Recent Barefoot Bay ballots have carried two or three trustee seats: two on November 2, 2021, three on November 8, 2022 and two on November 7, 2023, according to Supervisor of Elections notices (Supervisor of Elections, 2022 notice).

The 2021, 2022 and 2023 Barefoot Bay elections each ran from 7:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m. The 2021 notice was posted on the front door of all Brevard elections offices and on the VoteBrevard.gov website and published in Florida Today (2021 notice). Section 418.302 also requires the supervisor to mail notice of a Barefoot Bay trustee election, with the candidates' names, to each qualified elector at least 15 days before election day.

The same section asks for a newspaper notice too. The supervisor must publish the Barefoot Bay election notice one time at least 10 days before the vote in a newspaper of general circulation published in the county, and if no such paper exists, post written notices in five public places within the district (Section 418.302). The statute also waives the usual sample ballot publication under Section 101.20 for these recreation district elections. The date of the election itself is fixed by the ordinance that created the district, which for Barefoot Bay is the charter the Brevard County Commission amends.

Last verified: October 13, 2026, on the Barefoot Bay Recreation District website and the Brevard County Supervisor of Elections 2026 Candidates page.