Collier County Elections Office seeks to inform voters about process

Election Day is one week away and Florida, like the rest of the country, is seeing record turnout, with many Americans already casting early ballots or mailing them.

Voting by mail is nothing new, but elections offices are still eager to clear up confusion regarding the process. Collier County says it has been pleasantly surprised with the high return rate of mail-in ballots as well as early voting numbers.

“We’re actually seeing voters return them at a pretty high rate, so we’re excited about that,” said Trish Robertson, public relations officer for the Collier County Elections office. “We really want voters who did request a vote-by-mail ballot to return them if they can. But of course if they want to vote in person they have that option as well. Just bring your ballot with you so that our election workers can cancel it and give you a regular ballot.”

And there are several important factors regarding mail-in ballots that voters need to remember:

• They must be in the possession of the elections office by 7 p.m. on Nov. 3.
• If you are dropping off a ballot, you have until Halloween to do so.
• Double-check your signature on the ballot; it needs to match the one they have on record.

“If you decide to vote in person, we do have hygienic supplies, including gloves, masks, hand sanitizer, Clorox wipes,” Robertson said. “The election workers are doing everything they can to keep it sanitary, so: wipe down the booths after voters vote in them, making sure the panels are clean, the privacy sleeves that we give to them.’

In 2016, the most popular way to vote in Collier County was early voting, with over 76,000 people casting their ballots before Election Day.