Staff tracking of early voting and vote-by-mail ballot counts underscores strong participation
The morning of Oct. 21, Sarasota County Supervisor of Elections Ron Turner pointed out, “It’s day three of in-person early voting, and so far, Sarasota County voters are showing up to vote in a big way.”
“Early voting totals for the first two days are outpacing the same timeframe from 2022,” he added in a statement that he provided The Sarasota News Leader, at its request.
Already, the county had seen “one of the highest voter turnouts in the state,” he noted. “I’m hopeful this response from voters will continue through early voting into Election Day.”
The following are three sets of graphics that Turner’s staff prepared, as shown on the Elections Office website on Oct. 22. The times they were released are documented in the top, lefthand portion of each. The changes in numbers from graphic to graphic demonstrate how much the totals for early voting and receipt of vote-by-mail ballots are changing within hours:
Over recent weeks, Turner and his staff have been encouraging voters to take advantage of early voting opportunities and to get their vote-by-mail ballots to the Elections Office as soon as possible, to avoid potential postal service delivery delays.
In response to another News Leader inquiry this week, Paul Donnelly, director of communications and voter outreach for the Elections Office, wrote in an Oct. 21, email, The ‘book closing’ number of registered voters for Nov. 3 is 334,228.” That breaks down to 165,723 Republicans, 81,896 Democrats and 86,609 registered as “Other,” Donnelly noted.
The total number of registered voters for the Aug. 18 Primary in Sarasota County was 328,751, the Supervisor of Elections Office reported; 33.25% of them cast ballots.
Turnout for the last presidential election — Nov. 5, 2024 — was 84.2%, the Supervisor of Elections Office pointed out on its website then.
Below is the graphic that the Elections Office staff posted on Nov. 11, 2022 in regard to the county voting in the Nov. 8, 2022 General Election:
Turner has been reminding voters that if they are returning ballots by mail, they should place one Forever stamp, or 82 cents in postage, on the envelope and make sure it goes into the mail no later than Tuesday, Oct. 27, to ensure delivery by 7 p.m. on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 3.
Additionally, persons may drop off their ballots inside any Sarasota County elections office through Nov. 2, during regular business hours, which are 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday to Friday, the staff has reported in news releases. On Nov. 3, the offices will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
The elections offices are located as follows:
- Terrace Building — 2001 Adams Lane in downtown Sarasota.
- Robert L. Anderson Administration Center — 4000 S. Tamiami Trail in Venice.
- North Port Village — 14277 S. Tamiami Trail in North Port, a new site.
Voters also may drop off vote-by-mail ballots on weekends at early voting sites, between 8:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. The dates are Oct. 24, Oct. 25, Oct. 31 and Nov. 1.
The following 11 early voting locations will be open through Nov. 1, the Elections Office staff has pointed out, as well:
- The Sarasota, Venice and North Port elections offices (listed above).
- North Sarasota Library — 2801 Newtown Blvd. in Sarasota.
- Fruitville Library — 100 Apex Road in Sarasota.
- Colonial Oaks Park — 5300 Colonial Oaks Blvd. in Sarasota.
- Twin Lakes Park (Community Building) — 5879 Hummingbird Ave. in Sarasota– “NEW!” the release notes.
- Gulf Gate Library — 7112 Curtiss Ave. in Sarasota.
- Osprey Library — 337 N. Tamiami Trail in Osprey.
- Venice Library — 300 Nokomis Ave. S. in Venice.
- Shannon Staub Library — 4675 Career Lane in North Port.