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BONITA SPRINGS — Not former county commissioner and Congressman Porter Goss. Not longtime Sheriff Flanders “Snag” Thompson. Not 20-year Commissioner Ray Judah. Not current Supervisor of Elections Sharon Harrington.

No one in Lee County history, in fact, has ever posted the kind of win Sheriff Mike Scott did Tuesday over former Sheriff Rod Shoap.

While he did it with a voter turnout that was microscopic, Scott posted an overwhelming 90.57 percent of the vote Tuesday, setting a record Harrington believes she held previously.

“I had I think 87 percent in 2004,” said Harrington, who’s followed such things since she started at the elections office more than 30 years ago. “In write-in races, people get 99 percent, but in a contested race I think that was the highest ever.”

Harrington actually pulled in 85.65 percent of the vote four years ago as she bested Ray Rodrigues.

Scott said he thought the size of his margin was in part because voters knew both candidates.

“In most cases, the challenger’s not been in the seat he’s seeking,” he said. “Rod was thrown out on a mandate the last time.”

Scott said he felt he’d done a good enough job since he was elected to convince some of the 38 percent that voted for Shoap in 2004.

“I never dreamed, I never fathomed it’d be over 70,” he said. “That’s pretty much unheard of.”

Harrington called the turnout — an underwhelming 19.86 percent — inexcusable.

“They really have no right to grumble for the next four years,” she said of the 252,078 registered voters who chose not to cast a ballot. “Before the election, I have never seen so much participation by the media, TV and print. Everyone’s saying, ‘Get out and vote,’ and no one does. I don’t know what else we can do.”

Primary election turnouts are notoriously low, Harrington said, and closed Republican primaries for sheriff, county commissioner and property appraiser shut out Democrats and independents. In 2004, the turnout for the primary was 24 percent. In 2000, it was 28 percent.

“First of all, it’s very disheartening,” she said. “The fact that so many people chose not to vote on so many key issues. All those pollworkers and all that time training. The candidates worked their butts off and it’s inexcusable that we had that kind of turnout. And I think a lot of races were decided yesterday.”

Most of the candidates awaiting the primary winners in November are running without party affiliation. No unaffiliated candidate has ever won a Lee County race.

“The fact that people did not get out and vote means they have no right to complain,” Harrington said.

Several candidates expressed similar disappointment.

“It’s very disappointing,” said Shawn Seliger, who lost to incumbent Commissioner Frank Mann. “I think apathy was the biggest enemy in this race.”

“I was amazed how few people there were,” said Anita Cereceda, who lost to Judah.