Early voting continues in Naples city council races

In-person or by mail, voters in Naples are casting their ballots for three city council seats.

Rose Carcione said she is 100% certain about the security of her vote.

She trusts the Collier County Supervisor of Elections.

So does Maria Mair.

“I put the ballot form into the machine and the machine checks if I’ve done it correctly so I know that vote is definitely gone in,” Mair said.

Mair said the early voting process was simple and the effort to showcase security was obvious, especially when the clerk checked her signature.

“What we are doing is ensuring the integrity of the ballots by immediately processing them and then they are stored,” said Supervisor of Elections Jennifer Edwards.

Edwards said she has a security company that picks up the ballots and brings them back to the office.

There is a chain of custody involved and staff undergoes training sessions, including signature verification.

“I like the term transparency because that is what we’re about,” Edwards said.

Edwards said her office publicly tests the tabulation machines as required by law.

Gov. Ron DeSantis would like to take that a step further having the state create an office of election crimes and security to investigate fraud claims.

DeSantis also wants it to become a felony for ballot harvesting crimes.

“If it’s going to build more confidence in the election process in Florida then that’s a good thing,” Edwards said.

Five candidates are running for three seats. The last day to early vote during the Naples election is Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Election day is on Tuesday.