Secure ballot intake stations available for ballot return
Saturday, Aug. 13, is the deadline to request that a vote-by-mail ballot be mailed to a Sarasota County voter who wants to participate in the Aug. 23 Primary Election,Supervisor of Elections Ron Turner is reminding citizens.
The requests must be received by 5 p.m. that day, Turner adds in a news release.
A voter may go to SarasotaVotes.gov/VotebyMail or call 941-861-8618 to request a vote-by-mail ballot, Turner points out in the release.
“Voted ballots may be returned by mail or in person but must be received by the elections office by 7 p.m. on election night to be counted,” Turner adds. The cost to return a ballot by mail is one Forever stamp or 60 cents in postage.
Ballots also may be returned to secure ballot intake stations located inside elections offices in Sarasota, Venice and North Port as follows, the release notes:
- Now through Friday, Aug. 12, from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- Saturday, Aug. 13, through Monday, Aug. 22, daily (including weekends), from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- Tuesday, Aug. 23 (Election Day), from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
The locations of the Sarasota County elections offices are as follows:
- Terrace Building, located at 2001 Adams Lane in downtown Sarasota.
- Room 114 of the R.L. Anderson Administration Center, located at 4000 Tamiami Trail S. in Venice.
- Biscayne Plaza, located at 13640 Tamiami Trail in North Port.
In addition, ballots may be returned during early voting (Aug. 13-21, including weekends, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.) to secure ballot intake stations located inside the following early voting sites:
- Betty J. Johnson North Sarasota Public Library, located at 2801 Newtown Blvd. in Sarasota.
- Fruitville Public Library, located at 100 Apex Road in Sarasota.
- The Devyn Event Center, located at 7113 South Tamiami Trail in Sarasota.
A voter may track his or her vote-by-mail ballot by visiting SarasotaVotes.gov, clicking on the “My Voter Status” quick link and entering the required information, the release explains.
Turner also urges voters to read carefully and follow the instructions included with vote-by-mail ballots to ensure their ballots are counted, the release points out. A voter should complete and sign the ballot certificate envelope, the release says, and the voter’s signature should match the signature on record.
For more information, contact the Supervisor of Elections Office at 941-861-8618 or visit SarasotaVotes.gov.
The whole point of vote-by-mail is … voting by mail! I called the number to request a replacement ballot, as mine was rain-soaked. I was told to go to the registrar’s office in order to reregister with SSN and FL drivers license there or at their website. It seems that one must reregister every January from now on to continue voting by mail. Very inconvenient, and an unconscionable deterrent to many voters. All of this thanks to the FL Legislature putting yet another impediment in the way of fair elections. It is just another very undemocratic act by the DeSantis regime.