Record Numbers Of Hillsborough Residents Expected To Vote By Mail

HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, FL — With the number of positive coronavirus cases continuing to rise in Hillsborough County, Supervisor of Elections Craig Latimer is preparing for more voters to choose to vote by mail or vote early rather than face crowds at the polling precincts on Election Day.

"As always, we will offer no-excuse vote by mail, postage-paid return envelopes, and the maximum number of early voting days for Hillsborough County voters," Latimer said. "And while some of our Election Day polling places are unavailable to us, the large majority have been confirmed and will be open."

The pandemic has just been declared when the county held its presidential preference primary on March 17. Between voters who feared going to the polls to cast their votes and confusion over polling places, which were shifted due to the pandemic, 197,137 (31.75 percent) of the county's 620,832 registered voters cast their ballots during the primary.

That was only down slightly from the 2016 presidential preference primary. During that primary on June 5, 2016, 241,064 (42.91 percent) of the county's 561,855 registered voters cast their ballots.

With the addition of the University Area Community Development Center, Hillsborough County will have 24 early voting locations - one more than in the2020 presidential preference primary and eight more than the 2016 presidential election.

"The UACDC is typically one of our busiest Election Day voting locations, so opening it up for early voting should help lessen wait times in that area," Latimer said.

During early voting, curbside tents will be outside each of the 24 sites for voters who want to drop off a vote-by-mail ballot. Vote-by-mail ballots can also be dropped off at any of the four elections offices in Hillsborough County.

On Election Day, Aug. 18, 239 precincts will be open. There are 21 previous precincts that are no longer available due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The supervisor of elections office is sending out new voter information cards all voters who will experience a polling place change in the upcoming elections.

"When a polling place becomes unavailable, a lot of thought goes into where to reassign those voters. For 2020, we've primarily been able to reassign Election Day voters to other established polling places that are nearby and have room to accommodate more voters," said Latimer.

In-person voting is expected to take longer than usual because of necessary health and safety precautions, which include limiting the number of people inside the polling place and continuous cleaning of equipment and surfaces.

All Hillsborough County poll workers will wear masks and take a temperature check before starting work.

• Other planned health and safety measures for in-person voting include:
• Providing voters with single-use stylus pens and secrecy cover sheets
• Plexiglass barriers or face shields between poll workers and voters
• Minimizing touch points for voters and poll workers

Poll worker recruitment is well underway to determine the teams of people who will work in each polling place on Election Day, with a focus on bringing back experienced poll workers. So far, more than 1,600 poll workers have committed to working.

Once all teams are assigned, new qualified applicants will be added to a standby pool. Those who are interested in working on Election Day can visit VoteHillsborough.org to apply. Training is conducted online.

The Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections has sent more than 4,300 ballot to overseas and absent military voters and more than 290,000 ballots to domestic voters who have requested vote-by-mail ballots, nearly double the number of mail ballots that went out in the initial mailing before the 2016 primary election.

The deadline to request vote-by-mail ballots for the Aug. 18 primary is Aug. 10. All voted ballots must be in one of the four elections offices no later than 7 p.m. Aug. 18. Voters can mail their ballot back, no postage necessary, or drop their ballots off at any early voting site or the four elections offices:

Voters should allow at least a week for the ballot to arrive by mail. They can track their ballot online at VoteHillsborough.org.

Early voting for the primary takes place Aug. 3 to 16 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., including weekends, at 24 locations:

• Apollo Beach Recreation Center, 664 Golf and Sea Blvd., Apollo Beach
• Maureen B Gauzza Public Library, 11211 Countryway Blvd., Tampa
• SouthShore Regional Library, 15816 Beth Shields Way, Ruskin
• Northwest Elections Office, 4575 Gunn Highway, Tampa
• Southeast Elections Office, 10020 S. U.S. 301, Riverview
• Temple Terrace Public Library, 202 Bullard Parkway, Temple Terrace
• Town ‘N Country Regional Public Library, 7606 Paula Drive, Tampa
• University Area Community Center, 14013 N. 22nd St., Tampa
• West Tampa Branch Library, 2312 W. Union St., Tampa
• USF TECO Hall (David C Anchin Center), 4110 USF Apple Drive, Tampa
• New Tampa Regional Library, 10001 Cross Creek Blvd., Tampa
• North Tampa Branch Library, 8916 N. Blvd., Tampa
• Northdale Recreation Center, 15550 Spring Pine Drive, Tampa
• Port Tampa Community Center, 4702 W. McCoy St., Tampa
• Providence West Community Center, 5405 Providence Road, Riverview
• Riverview Branch Library, 10509 Riverview Drive, Riverview
• Robert L Gilder Elections Service Center, 2514 N. Falkenburg Road, Tampa
• Austin Davis Public Library, 17808 Wayne Road, Odessa
• Jan Kaminis Platt Regional Library, 3910 S. Manhattan Ave., Tampa
• Jimmie B. Keel Regional Public Library, 2902 W. Bearss Ave., Tampa
• Bloomingdale Regional Public Library, 1906 Bloomingdale Ave., Valrico
• Bruton Memorial Library, 302 W. McLendon St., Plant City
• Fred B Karl County Center, 601 E. Kennedy Blv., Tampa
• C. Blythe Andrews Jr. Public Library, 2607 E. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr/ Blvd., Tampa

"My message to voters is simple: don't wait until the last minute," said Latimer. "If you haven't requested a vote-by-mail ballot, do it now. If you prefer to vote in person, plan to go during the first week of early voting. And if you vote on Election Day, visit VoteHillsborough or call our office before you leave to double-check your assigned polling place."