Voter registration deadline extended through Oct. 18 statewide

Public invited to attend logic and accuracy testing for voting equipment on Oct. 19 in downtown Sarasota

Image from the Supervisor of Elections Office website.
Image from the Supervisor of Elections Office website.

The Sarasota County Supervisor of Elections Office will be accepting new voter registration applications for the Nov. 8 General Election until 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 18.

Supervisor of Elections Kathy Dent made the announcement following a federal judge’s ruling on the morning of Oct. 12, which extended the book-closing deadline for the second time this week because of the possibility that Hurricane Matthew might have prevented some last-minute registrants from signing up, a news release explains.

Florida Voter Registration Application forms are available at all elections offices, city halls, county libraries and offices and social service agencies, and they may be downloaded from the elections website, the release points out.

Elections offices are in the Terrace Building, located at 101 S. Washington Blvd. in downtown Sarasota; Room 114 in the Robert L. Anderson Administration Center at 4000 Tamiami Trail South in Venice; and Biscayne Plaza, located at 13640 Tamiami Trail in North Port.

Dent also reminds voters of the following:

  • Name and party changes may be requested by submitting an Florida Voter Registration Application or other signed written notice, which includes the voter’s date of birth or Florida Voter Registration System ID number.
  • Address changes within the state of Florida may be made by phone, fax or email but must include the voter’s date of birth.

A voter may check his or her voter registration status by going to www.SarasotaVotes.com. Select “Voter Information” from the menu, then select “Voter Lookup” and follow the easy instructions, the release says.

Dent also is inviting the public to observe the logic and accuracy testing of the county’s voting and tabulating equipment that will be used in the Nov. 8 General Election.

The testing is scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 19, at 9 a.m. in the Office of the Supervisor of Elections, which is in the Sarasota County Terrace Building at 2001 Adams Lane in Sarasota.

Florida law requires each supervisor of elections to conduct a public test of the county’s automatic tabulation equipment and reporting software prior to each election to ensure it is operating and recording accurately, the release explains. “Logic and accuracy testing is performed on a random sampling of all the tabulating equipment that will be fielded on Election Day,” the release adds.