Supervisor of elections reminding the public about deadlines for requesting and returning those ballots
On Feb. 7, the Sarasota County Supervisor of Elections Office mailed 10,417 vote-by-mail (absentee) ballots for the March 14 municipal elections, Supervisor of Elections Ron Turner has announced.
This initial mailing included 4,821 ballots for the City of North Port Special Primary Election, 4,893 ballots for the City of Sarasota First Election, and 703 for the Town of Longboat Key General Election, a news release says.
Ballots were sent to all stateside residents who are registered to vote within those municipalities and who have requests for vote-by-mail ballots on file with the elections office, the release notes. More than 270 vote-by-mail ballots were sent to uniformed services and overseas civilian voters on Jan. 25, the release added.
To request a vote-by-mail ballot, a voter may call 861-8618, email votebymail@SarasotaVotes.com or submit an online request through the Supervisor of Elections Office website at www.SarasotaVotes.com. Requests for ballots to be mailed must be received by the elections office no later than 5 p.m. on Wednesday, March 8, the release points out.
To be counted, vote-by-mail ballots must be returned to the supervisor of elections no later than 7 p.m. on Election Day, the release stresses.
With the exception of uniformed service and civilian voters living overseas, a voter who requests a ballot be mailed to an address other than the address on file in the Florida Voter Registration System must submit a signed written request to the elections office, the release notes.
Turner also is reminding voters that the signature on the vote-by-mail ballot certificate must match the voter’s signature on file in the elections office to be counted. Voters may update their signatures by submitting a Florida Voter Registration Application to the Supervisor of Elections Office. Signature updates must be received prior to the start of the vote-by-mail ballot canvass, which will be Tuesday, March 7, the release adds.