TAMPA, Fla. — Tuesday’s primary election gave Tampa Bay area election supervisors a taste of what to expect in November.
Many are already talking with their poll workers to find out what went right and what they can do better to make sure COVID-19 doesn’t impact people’s ability to vote.
Pinellas Supervisor of Elections Julie Marcus says she was blown away by voter turnout in this pandemic primary.
Marcus says the county essentially saw the same voter volume as the 2018 midterms when there was a Senate and governor’s race on the ballot – but no COVID-19 to contend with.
“Unprecedented situation,” Marcus said. “Not even the Spanish flu meets this level of a pandemic going into this type of election.”
Marcus says things went smoothly, with no incidents involving people at the polls not wearing PPE or keeping their social distance.
There were no long lines, either. But, that could change Nov. 3.
“Volume. We are going to have volume,” she said. “This is a primary, which we need to recognize is a smaller turnout. Generally, we’re in the high 20 percent or low 30 percent turnout, whereas in the general you’re looking at mid to upper 70 percent turnout.”
Marcus credits a high percentage of early and mail-in voting for making it easier to accommodate those who showed up on election day, as well as PPE and safety measures that gave voters and poll workers confidence.
“(It's) important”, she said. “Especially because we want these folks (poll workers) to come back in the election general election and serve again.”
Election supervisors say they’ll be meeting with their teams and are also encouraging voters to share their perspective of how things went.
“We’ll do some after-action to see if there’s something that may change, do differently,” Hillsborough Supervisor of Elections Craig Latimer said. “I can tell you right now, we’ve gotten a tremendous amount of feedback and praise for having this drive-up, drop-off, vote by mail ballot boxes at the early vote sites where you don’t have to get out of your car, and the combination stylus pen has been a huge hit.”
Hillsborough County and other election offices gave out “souvenir” styluses to mark ballots. Voters could take them home rather than re-using pens – another safety precaution.
Election supervisors say you can also expect to see public awareness campaigns soon, which will encourage voters across the area to consider alternatives to in-person voting on Election Day.
“That is what I mean by building upon this primary,” Marcus said. “It's taking advantage of the opportunity, knowing what we’re facing in regard to voter turnout.”
“You know, if they wanna vote by mail that’s great. If they want to go in person, that’s great too,” Latimer said. “We’re going to have everything available to make sure that they have a safe and healthy experience.”
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