Sherri Hodies, supervisor of elections for Monroe County, joined Good Morning Keys on Keys Talk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about what’s going on with elections.
Let’s talk about the timetable and deadlines for the primary and general election.
Hodies explained, “The primary is going to be August 18. General is November 3. But even if we walk back a little ways, this Monday, May 11, any candidate that is wanting to qualify by petition would have to have all of their petitions in and all of those petitions accepted by noon on May 11, which is this Monday. So the candidates know that. We put some things out on social media. Very important date for the candidates, May 11, this Monday at noon, all petitions have to be in, and the right amount of petitions that you were supposed to get and they have to be accepted. So May 11 at noon, obviously we want people to get those petitions in now. Many have already gotten their petitions in, so they will be qualified by petition in June and then June 8 to June 12 is our qualifying period. You apply by petition by bringing in your petition certification, along with several other documents that you have to bring in, that is June 8 to June 12, by noon on June 12, and then we’ll know which elections are going to move forward into the general because, as we all know, if it is a partisan election, anybody can come in during June 8 to June 12 to qualify.”
There are unopposed elections, and the primaries could decide all of the elected offices for the county, but there still is the opportunity for that to change by June.
Hodies said, “We have to make sure we remember that it is possible that all of the races could be decided at the primary, but we don’t want to say that, because June 12, a opposing person in a partisan race could come in qualify by paying the qualifying fees. And now we’re on to the general.”
The partisan versus nonpartisan varies by office.
Hodies confirmed, “Yes, by the office. So you have, like the county commission race right now, we have a couple county commissioners that do not have any opposition. If somebody comes in during June 8 to June 12, they qualify by paying their fee, then you have a race now that will have to go on to the general.”
The petitions have to be in by this Monday at noon.
Hodies said, “We have to check the signatures. We have to check everything on that petition form, and you don’t want to wait till Monday to be giving us the rest of your petitions. The school board race is from Ocean Reef to Key West. Your Board of County Commission is Ocean Reef to Key West. Now, just to make it more confusing, the school board race is non partisan, so you don’t know if the person is Republican, Democrat, NPA, but then your Board of County Commission, again, is partisan, so you will know, and it will be on the ballot if they are Republican, Democrat, NPA and so forth. So it gets confusing, but it’s very interesting. And you kind of just get the stuff in your head in compartments, and you get ready for someone to call and ask them great questions about dates.”
The circuit court judges were all unopposed.
Hodies said, “Their race is over. In fact, on Friday, I got from the state their actual certification of qualification, and then that also means that they have the position.”
Early voting for the primary election occurs August 3 through August 15. The mail in ballot request forms have been sent out.
Hodies said, “We have around 9,000 right now, July 2, the overseas vote by mail ballots will go out and July 9, everybody else, their ballots will be mailed out July 9. So the candidates and the voters need to be looking for their ballots right after July 9.”
Can people still write in candidates?
Hodies said, “You can do write in candidates, but they do fill out paperwork so that the state can know that they want to be that write in candidate. So, I mean, people are still going to write in Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, but I need to ask people to stop doing that this year.”
The supervisor of elections office has worked hard to go through the voter rolls.
Hodies said, “We’re really working hard on this. They’ve always worked hard on it. We’ve just taken it to another level here. In fact, next week, I think it will be the first time this year that I will be reporting to the state on what our voter rolls look like. We do that twice a year. So what we did is we sent out 51,000 vote by mail requests with a letter from me. And what that does is any of that mail that comes back, we have to sort it and then put in if an undeliverable mail came back, and that’s another way that we clean our voter rolls. We’re also using that activity for our very important list maintenance. And list maintenance is how we keep our voter rolls clean, and we do have to report list maintenance activities twice a year to the state.”
What happened with the redistricting conversation in the state?
Hodies said, “The redistricting law that was put into play on Monday with the new congressional district maps, which would be your US Congress person, is what that congressional district has to do with, it does not affect Monroe County at all. The entire county is still Congressional district number 28 so at this point in time, Representative Carlos Gimenez holds that congressional district. He is up for re election. But the good thing for us and for Monroe County voters is that we stayed with only one congressional district, no changes. And the second thing I wanted to say is the Florida Save Act that was signed into law on April 1 by Governor DeSantis, that does not affect our voters at all. It will not affect anything until January 1, 2027 when we’re going to be looking at some other voter identification. So voters, please do not worry about the Florida Save Act for this year, everything remains the same.”
For more information, click here: https://www.votemonroeflkeys.gov/