Politicians in high gear for last week of early voting

Florida’s Chief Financial Officer, Jeff Atwater, (R) was touring St Augustine this morning and stopped to speak with Historic City News and Vice-Mayor Nancy Sikes-Kline, who was waving her campaign sign at the west end of the Bridge of Lions as the last week of early voting comes to an end.

Atwater, riding in his bus with an entourage of campaign supporters, had already made several stops on Anastasia Island and was working his way back to Jacksonville. Challenging Atwater for his seat is Democrat William “Will” Rankin of Deerfield Beach.

Sikes-Kline is facing opposition from Grant Misterly for her commission seat. Misterly, an engineer, his wife Jessica, and his 4-year-old daughter, Mabel, were also at the bridge this morning, eagerly waving campaign signs for drivers on their morning commute.

St Johns County has 160,926 registered voters; of which 83,877 are registered Republicans, 38,852 are registered Democrats and 38,197 either are registered to minor political parties, independent, or indicate no party affiliation.

As of this morning’s report, the Supervisor of Elections tells Historic City News that a total of 34,491 ballots have already been cast; but the results of those mail-in, drop-off, and early votes cannot be released until after the polls close at 7:00 p.m. on Election Day, Tuesday November 4th.

Of the 34,491 early voters, so far, 21,354 were cast by Republicans and 7,908 were cast by Democrats. There are 5,229 others early voter’s ballots in the Elections Office.

Early unofficial polling indicates that some races, from the Florida Governor race to races for the local city commission, may be very close. The more people who vote, the less likely a recount will be necessary — however, the ballots cast in this election are final ten-days after the election.

If the spread between the top two candidates is 1/2 of 1%, or less, of the total number of ballots cast in that race, a recount can be requested. On Election Night, November 4th, we will know the tabulation of absentee ballots and early voting by 7:30 p.m. As the precincts report in the hours after the polls close, we will know those totals; which are still unofficial.

The elections office attempts to use any resources available to them to certify any provisional ballots possible before Election Night. However, any voter who votes a provisional ballot must prove why their ballot should be counted not later than 5:00 p.m. on November 6th. At that time, the elections office declares an “unofficial count” for local elections. Those results are forwarded to the Florida Department of Elections by 12:00 noon on Saturday, November 8.

Election laws changed last year that allow overseas voters an additional 10-day window to get their ballots to the Supervisor’s office. The local Supervisor is now required to canvas all races voted on those overseas ballots, meaning it will be November 14th before the final election results can be certified.