Even though most Brevard County voters already have cast their ballots in the election, it's likely to be fairlybusy at the polls Tuesday.
Voter turnout through vote-by-mail ballots and early in-person voting was 63.4% of Brevard's 452,160 eligible voters, as of 5 p.m. Monday. That included 143,216who voted by mail and 143,168 who voted at one of 10 early-voting sites during a 13-day period that ended Saturday.
Still, there is the potential for nearly 100,000 voters to show up at the polls during polling hours from 7 a.m.to 7 p.m. Tuesday, assuming total voter turnout is 85%, as Brevard County Supervisor of Elections Lori Scott predicts.
For in-person Election Day voting, voters need to go to their designated polling place, which is based on their residential address.
Here are some things voters should know, based on advice from Scott and her staff:
How do I find out where my polling place is?
It's listed on your voter information card and your sample ballot.
If you don't have either, you can look it up at votebrevard.gov or call 321-290-8683.
In Brevard, there are a total of 171 election precincts and 87 polling places in this election, with many polling places serving more than one precinct.
What are likely to be the busiest times at the polling places?
If you want to avoid long lines, the worst times to go are 7 to 8 a.m.;11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.; and 5 to 7 p.m.If possible, voters are encouraged to vote at a time other than these peak voting periods.
What if I'm in line when the polls close at 7 p.m.?
All eligible voters in line at their polling place at 7 p.m. will be allowed to vote, regardless of the length of the line.
What will be on the ballot?
It depends on where you live.
Inaddition to the presidential election, there are races on the ballot within Brevard for U.S. Congress,one Florida Senate seat,four Florida House seats,Brevard County sheriff,three Brevard County Commission seats,one Canaveral Port Authority seat and a number of municipal elections, aswell as ballot items related to retention of Florida Supreme Court and 5th District Court of Appeal judges.
The ballot also contains six proposed state constitutional amendments, a countywide referendum related to a school infrastructure sales taxand various local referendums.
Voters should have received a sample ballot in the mail. Youalso can go to the Brevard County Supervisor of Elections Office website (www.votebrevard.gov) to view yoursample ballot.
What should I bring to the polling place?
To be allowed to vote, you must show a valid form of identification, which must contain the voter's name, photograph and signature, and must not be expired.
For example, this could be a Florida driver's license, a U.S. passport, a debit or credit card, a military identification card or a student identification card.
The identification which is required and checked at the polls is used solely to confirm the voter’s identity, not to verify the voter’s identification number or address. The photograph on the identification is compared with the person standing before the poll worker, and the signature on the card is compared with the voter's signature on the precinct roster.
If you do not have proper identification with you, Florida law allows you to vote on a provisional ballot.
What are the COVID-19 safety protocols at Brevard polling places?
- As soon as voters enter the polling site, there will be an automatic hand-sanitizing dispenser.
- Each polling location will have a "sanitizing specialist," whoseprimary responsibility is to sanitize voting booths between voters and the polling location.
- Poll workers will be mandated to wear either a face shield or a mask.
- Hand sanitizer will be provided to all poll workers.
- There will be various "one-and-done" itemsthat will be disposed of after they are used once. These includea ballot secrecy sleeve, a black pen to use through the voting process, and a "needs to be cleaned" sign to identify the voting booth that needs to be cleaned and sanitized after use by avoter.
- Voters within the 150-foot no-solicitation zone will be asked to practice social distancing.
What if I make a mistake on the ballot?
If you make a mistake in voting, tell the clerk in charge of the polling place, give him or her your "spoiled" ballot, and you will be issued a replacement ballot.
Your spoiled ballot will be sealed, and no one will be allowed to see it.
You may not receive more than two replacement ballots per election.
Can Iwear partisan or campaign attire to the polling place?
Voters may wear T-shirts, buttons, hats, etc., which express their political preferences, as long as they are not actively campaigning in the polling room or the no-solicitation zone around it.
What if I have a mail ballot?
DO NOT put it in the mail at this point, because the ballot must be received by supervisor of elections by 7 p.m. on Election Day. A postmark by that time is not good enough, and the ballot will not be counted if it doesn't arrive on time.
You can, however,deposit your mail ballot into a secure ballot box at any one of the Supervisor of Elections offices before 7 p.m.
The Supervisor of Elections offices are at these locations:
- Melbourne: 1515 Sarno Road.
- Palm Bay: 450 Cogan Drive SE.
- Titusville: 400 South St., Room 1F.
- Viera: 2725 Judge Fran Jamieson Way, Building C, First Floor.
What if I requested a mail ballot and decide I would like to vote atmy polling location on Election Day?
The voter should take his or her mail ballot to the polling locationand give it to an election official, who then will allow the voter to vote a regular ballot.
You cannot vote usingthe mail ballot at a polling place on Election Day.
If the voter does not bring his or her unvoted mail ballotand the election officials cannot verify that the voter's ballot has not been received by the elections office, the voter will be required to vote on a provisional ballot.
Is there a way to check if my vote-by-mail ballot has been received?
Yes. Voters can track the status of their mail ballot by going to www.VoteBrevard.gov/VoterLookup.
There, they can look up the day the supervisor of elections office receive the voter's request for a ballot; the day it was mailed to them; and the day their completedmail ballot is received back in the election office.
Voters are required to sign their certificate envelope, and their mail ballot must be returned in this envelope once it is signed. The signature on the certificate envelope must match the signature on the person's voter registration recordor the ballot will not be counted.
If the website indicates that a voter's mail ballot was received and the word "received" is in blue, there was no problem.
If the word "received" is in red, there will be a link indicating that there was a problem and information on how to resolve it.
The deadline for fixing these issues is 5 p.m. Thursday.
Voters can call the mail ballot department at 321-633-2127 for more information on what to do.
Will the work of the canvassing boards be transparent to the public?
This year’s presidential election may be decided by razor-thin margins. The transparency of vote canvassing boards — county panels of three elected officialsthat are tasked with inspecting contested ballots — was called into question with just days to go before the election.
In Brevard and several other Florida counties, it was unclear whether or not the public would be able to see ballots that were rejected for mismatched signatures.
The confusion arose from a court case in Pinellas County over the summer that raised issues related to ballot secrecy.
But the matter appeared resolved heading into Tuesday's vote— at least in Brevard— when Kimberly Boelzner, communications director for Scott, confirmed in an email Monday: "Yes, any rejected ballots will be shown.”
Dave Berman is government editor at FLORIDA TODAY.
Contact Berman at 321-242-3649 or dberman@floridatoday.com. Twitter: @bydaveberman
