Deadline to request one is 5 p.m. on Feb. 26
All registered voters are eligible to request and cast a vote-by-mail (absentee) ballot in the March 8, School District Millage Referendum and County Charter Referendum, Supervisor of Elections Ron Turner is reminding Sarasota County citizens.
Any voter may request a vote-by-mail ballot online at SarasotaVotes.com/VotebyMail or by calling 941-861-8618, a news release points out. The deadline to request a ballot be mailed to a voter is 5 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 26, the release adds.
Voted ballots may be returned by mail or in person, the release notes, but they “must be received in the elections office by 7 p.m. on election night to be counted.”
The cost to return a vote-by-mail ballot by mail is one Forever stamp or 58 cents postage, the release adds.
“Vote-by-mail is a safe, secure and convenient option for registered voters,” Turner said in the release. “Ballots are mailed out well ahead of Election Day so voters can take the time to study the ballot, vote and return it to the elections office in time to be counted,” he added.
“The March 8 ballot will contain no candidates — only two important questions: a School District Millage Referendum and a County Charter Referendum,” he noted in the release.
“Turner urges voters to read and follow the instructions included with vote-by-mail ballots to ensure their ballots are counted,” the release continues. Every voter should complete and sign the Voter’s Certificate on the ballot return envelope, and the voter’s signature should match the signature on record, the release points out.
Additionally, voters may track their vote-by-mail ballots at SarasotaVotes.com/VotebyMail. Turner recommends voters allow up to 72 hours from the time their voted ballots are submitted for the online tracking information to be updated, the release says.
For more election information, voters may contact the Supervisor of Elections Office at 941-861-8619 or visit SarasotaVotes.com.