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Early voting ends Aug. 23
Polls open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Aug. 26
By SUZETTE PORTER
Article published on Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2008 |
PINELLAS COUNTY – Registered voters throughout the county will trek to the polls on Tuesday, Aug. 26, to decide the fates of primary candidates, plus pick new school board members and a circuit court judge.
Registered Democrats and Republicans will be deciding the party candidates who will appear on the Nov. 4 ballot in the races for property appraiser, sheriff, county commissioner, congressional representative, state senator and state representative.
In nonpartisan races, voters will choose school board members in three districts and a circuit court judge.
While Aug. 26 is the last day to cast a ballot, voters have plenty of opportunities to get a head start through mail ballots and early voting.
Early voting began Aug. 11 and continues through Aug. 23. Mail ballots began going out on July 10, and more than 2,400 were sent out on July 7 to members of the military and overseas voters.
“Early voting and voting by mail provide additional convenient options for voters,” Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections Deborah Clark said. “It is difficult for some voters to get to the polls on election day.”
Early voting is available at all Supervisor of Elections offices:
- Election Service Center, 13001 Starkey Road, Largo
- Pinellas County Courthouse, 315 Court St., Room 117, Clearwater
- County Annex Building, 501 First Ave. N., Auditorium, Fifth Street entrance, St. Petersburg
As of Aug. 18, 867 people had taken advantage of early voting.
Nearly 32 percent of 79,253 mail ballots sent out had been returned as of Aug. 18. The deadline to request that a ballot be mailed was Wednesday, Aug. 20. Ballots can be picked up at a Supervisor of Elections Office through Aug. 26.
Mail ballots must be returned to any Elections Office by 7 p.m. on election day and cannot be accepted at polling places. Additional mail ballot drop-off locations are also available throughout the county through Aug. 23. Ballot instructions include drop-off locations, dates and times.
The polls will be open on election day, Aug. 26, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
For the first time on a countywide basis, voters will be using the optical scan voting system as mandated by state law. All ballots are now paper and will be processed by a digital scanner. AutoMARK devices are available for voters with special needs or disabilities.
According to the latest figures from the Elections Office, there are 622,979 registered voters in Pinellas County – 234,271 Republicans, 238,146 Democrats and 150,561 others.
Voters are reminded that in the primary races they can only vote in the elections of their registered political parties. In other words, registered Democrats will vote in the Democratic primary and Republicans will cast ballots for Republican candidates. Voters not registered to either political party will not be allowed to vote in the primary and will be allowed only to vote in the School Board and judicial races.
For more information and a demonstration of the new voting system, visit TBNweekly.com’s Election Section.
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Article published on Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2008
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