SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. – Florida’s primaries are just over two weeks away and now every Central Florida county is offering early voting.
Early voting locations opened on Saturday in Seminole, Brevard, Sumter, Marion, Volusia and Flagler counties.
Early voting started earlier this week in Orange, Osceola and Lake counties.
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Seminole County supervisor of elections Chris Anderson said there are seven early voting sites across his jurisdiction.
“Most of (the sites) are county libraries and here at the supervisor of elections office and the Oviedo aquatic center,” Anderson said. “We’ll continue ‘til Aug. 20 and we’ll be open daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.”
Anderson is reminding voters to bring their ID with them.
New this election cycle, Anderson said voters can go online to voteseminole.org to see how long the wait times are at early voting locations.
“Anything that we can do that makes things more easier for folks to figure out where they want to go and get back to their daily scheduled activities, we want to do,” he said.
As for vote by mail, Anderson said the county sent out 97,000 ballots as requested, but so far almost 15,000 were returned. He adds that latter number is lower than usual.
Voters can mail their ballots back or drop them off at secure ballot intake stations located at every early voting site.
As for expected voter turnout, Anderson said it isn’t as high during primaries as with general elections.
“Historically speaking from the past three primary elections we’ve seen about a 25% overall turnout of our voting population,” he said.
Anderson said if you choose to vote on election day, make sure you check your precinct location, which is different than early voting sites. He said due to redistricting and population growth, your precinct may have changed.
“Don’t wait till the day of election day to learn where your voting site or your precinct is so you’re searching around for it. You want to make sure you’re at the right location,” Anderson said.
The deadline to request a vote by mail ballot is Saturday, Aug. 13 by 5 p.m.
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