Voting by mail spiked in Indian River County in the Aug. 18 elections because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but just a tiny fraction of nearly 25,000 mail-in-ballots arrived at the Elections Office after the deadline.
A total of 24,660 county citizens voted by mail in the primary and non-partisan elections, elections records show. Another 154 mail-in ballots, or 2/5ths of 1 percent, arrived after the polls closed.
Mail-in votes accounted for more than 61 percent of the ballots cast in the Aug. 18 elections in Indian River County.
That’s 89 percent more than the vote-by-mail rate for the 2018 and 2016 primary and non-partisan elections.
About 13,000 people voted by mail in the August 2018 and August 2016 elections, records show. Both times it was about 40 percent of the ballots cast.
“I am assuming that voter’s preferred not to vote in-person due to COVID-19,” said Supervisor of Elections Leslie Swan.
Voting by mail, a key factor in Florida elections involving millions of seasonal residents, faces unprecedented scrutiny as a result of the pandemic and President Trump’s questions about the U.S Postal Service’s ability to handle a deluge of ballots for the Nov. 3 election.
The Indian River County elections office has received 43,264 requests for vote by mail ballots for the Nov. 3 election, Swann said. That’s about 36 percent of the county’s 121,603 registered voters.
Oct. 24 is the deadline for a voter to request a vote-by-mail ballot to be sent to their home for the Nov. 3 general election, state records say.
A vote-by-mail ballot must be received by the elections office no later than 7 p.m. on election day to be counted, state records say. There’s a 10-day extension for overseas voters for the general election.
Voter procrastination seemed to be the primary factor for the tardy vote-by-mail ballots in Indian River County in August, Swan said.
Nearly half of the late ballots – 73, or about 47 percent – had been sent out by the elections office in the initial mailing on July 9, Swan said. Another 5 had been sent out on July 2 to military and overseas voters.
“This tells me voters are procrastinating mailing their ballots back to the elections office,” Swan said.
The elections office received 31 mail-in ballots one day late, 55 two days late and 24 three days late, records show. They have continued to trickle in since then, with two arriving on Friday – 10 days late.
Voting by mail could be an even bigger factor in the Nov. 3 general election, depending on the spread of the coronavirus and voters willingness to go to polling places in person.
The elections office acquired new machines to mail out ballots and process the returned ballots, Swan said. Counting the mail ballots takes more time and effort.
The process includes time-stamping the voted ballots, verifying signatures, notifying voters if the signature does not match or is omitted, removing the ballots from the certificate envelopes, and tabulating the ballots, Swan said.
“The results may take longer to post [on Nov. 3] if our office receives a large number of vote-by-mail ballots either in the mail or our drop box on Election Day,” Swan warned.
