Monroe County Supervisor of Elections Sherri Hodies joined Good Morning Keys on Keys Talk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about the upcoming November election.
Voters have several options for casting their ballots in the November 3 election.
The deadline to request a vote-by-mail ballot is October 22 at 5 p.m. The Elections Office will send out the requested ballots by the deadline or the following morning, then continue processing returned ballots as they arrive.
Early voting will run from October 19 through October 31, with all five early voting locations open from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. The schedule includes two Saturdays and one Sunday.
On Election Day, November 3, polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Although several local races were decided during the primary, Hodies said voters still have important decisions to make in the general election, including local contests and referendums.
Key Colony Beach, Islamorada and Key West will have local elections. Key West and Islamorada also have referendums on the ballot.
“If you want to have a voice in your local government, and you should want to have a voice in your local government, then you have to get out and vote,” Hodies said. “We have got to get our voter participation up.”
The Elections Office is also working with Monroe County Sheriff Rick Ramsay to increase awareness of the upcoming election. Hodies said election dates will be displayed on the sheriff’s digital roadside signs. The sheriff’s office will also help transport vote-by-mail ballots from early voting locations to elections offices in the Upper and Middle Keys.
Hodies said the county has installed and tested new digital modems to transmit election results from voting locations. The technology is being used in Monroe County for the first time and is intended to speed up the reporting process while maintaining election security.
The modems are not connected to the internet, Hodies said. If the equipment encounters problems, election officials have a backup plan to transport results by vehicle.
Voters can find early voting locations, request vote-by-mail ballots and get additional election information at VoteMonroeFLKeys.gov.
Election results will also be broadcast live on Keys Talk 96.9, 101.5 and 102.5 from the Harvey Government Center on November 3.