Broward County mail issue illustrates need for citizens to ensure their vote-by-mail ballots get counted
With early voting continuing through Sunday, Nov. 1, the Sarasota County Supervisor of Elections Office reported late in the afternoon of Oct. 29 that 37.99% of eligible voters had cast their ballots.
Just before 3 p.m., the split shown in a graphic on the office’s website put the number of vote-by-mail ballots that had been returned at 70,060, with 56,247 early voting ballots cast.
Almost exactly an hour later, the vote-by-mail ballot count had risen to 70,094, and the early voting number was up to 56,888, a graphic showed.
Late in the morning of Tuesday, Oct. 27, 62,496 vote-by-mail ballots had been received; the early voting total was 42,126. The Elections Office staff noted at that time that the turnout was at the 31.3% mark.
Altogether, the county has 334,228 voters eligible to cast ballots in the Nov. 3 General Election, as the Elections Office staff has pointed out.
In late September, the Supervisor of Elections Office reported that more than 77,000 ballots had been sent in the mail, with Oct. 22 the deadline for requesting one.
“More than 53,000 Sarasota County voters returned a vote-by-mail ballot during the Aug. 18 Primary Election,” Supervisor of Elections Ron Turner also noted in late September.
As The Sarasota News Leader reported last week, the Sarasota County voter turnout for the 2024 Presidential Election was 84.14%, which was one of the highest counts ever in the county. Paul Donnelly, director of communications and voter outreach for the Supervisor of Elections office, told the News Leader at the time that “it was the second highest turnout by percentage since 1980.”
“In 1992,” he added, “the turnout was 86%.”
For the 2024 General Election, the staff noted that the number of vote-by-mail ballots sent out by mail was 115,729; of those, 96,136 had been returned as of Nov. 3, with the election two years ago held on Nov. 5. (That tally was the latest the News Leader was able to obtain by its deadline for its issue after the election.)
The total figure for early voting as of Nov. 3, 2024 was 121,574.
A South Florida situation has underscored Sarasota County Supervisor of Elections Ron Turner’s advice to citizens to ensure that their vote-by-mail ballots are counted by returning them as soon as possible.
On Oct. 27, the Florida Sun Sentinel reported that Broward County Supervisor of Elections Joe Scott had discussed the fact that some county residents were “experiencing unusually long delays by the Postal Service” in returning vote-by-mail ballots to his office. Scott expressed concern that those voters could risk missing the deadline for their votes to count, so he was urging anyone who had voted by mail to check his or her ballot status on Scott’s office website and even to consider voting at an early voting site or on Elections Day.
“Even locally, it’s taking a couple of weeks for these ballots to move,” Scott told reporter Anthony Man a telephone interview. “If you believe your ballot is not going to make it,” Scott added, “you should go to vote in person.”
Then Man pointed out, “Florida law is strict about the deadline for mail ballots. They must be at the supervisor of elections office at 7 p.m. on Election Day, Nov. 3. Ballots that aren’t received by that deadline aren’t counted.”
Sarasota County Supervisor of Elections Turner has stressed that cutoff as well, and he, too, has been urging citizens using vote-by-mail ballots to check the status of their ballots on his office website.
Sarasota County residents 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 this weekend at early voting sites, between 8:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1, the Elections Office staff has reminded the public.
The 11 early voting locations listed below 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.