SARASOTA – Floridians have been able to cast their ballots for any of the major elections in the country for more than a decade. And they’ve been able to do without having to step foot in a voting precinct, simply by mailing in their votes.
So then why is this option still such a hot topic to discuss?
“It’s become controversial largely because the president has really resisted it,” said Zac Anderson. “He said that he thinks that it carries a lot of potential for fraud.”
Anderson, a Political Editor for the Herald-Tribune, says the experts who’ve studied this topic have found voter fraud to be rare. But the president continues to attack on Twitter states that plan to send mail in ballots to voters to encourage them to vote from home amid the coronavirus pandemic.
“We don’t want them to do mail-in ballots because it’s going to lead to total election fraud. So we don’t want them to do mail-in ballots. We don’t want anyone to do mail-in ballots,” said President Donald Trump. “If there’s a reason for it, that’s okay. If there’s a reason. But if there’s not a — we don’t want to take any chances with fraud in our elections.”
But both Manatee & Sarasota County Supervisors of Elections disagree with the president saying it’s safe and secure to mail in your vote in August and November.
Manatee County Supervisor of Election Mike Bennett says the convenience of being able to vote from home has increased the number of voter turn out in past elections. “The president doesn’t particularly like vote by mail, so I think there’s a bit of confusion on his part,” said Bennett. “And maybe he’s talking about Chicago, or New York, or some place else but he is certainly not talking about Manatee County.”
Sarasota County Supervisor of Election Ron Turner says more than a third of the voters in Sarasota mailed in their ballots. Turner continues to encourage voting by mail since more than 100 volunteers refused to work during the Florida primaries this year due to concerns over the coronavirus.
“If you look at vote by mail and early voting combined, more than 60% of voters in Sarasota County voted by mail and early voting so the majority of voters in the county did not vote on Election Day and that was and that was in the last presidential election four years ago,” said Turner.
The Herald-Tribune is reporting more than 70,000 people voted by mail in Sarasota County in 2016 in the general elections and more than 60,000 in Manatee County.
Turner says if voters want to mail their ballots, they must contact their supervisor of election office for the form.
Manatee County residents can visit votemanatee.com for more information on voting by mail. Sarasota County residents can visit sarasotavotes.com.