- April 25, 2024
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As of Aug. 10, the Flagler County Supervisor of Elections Office had already received far more mail-in ballots than it ever had previously in a primary election, while early voting is down as voters forgo in-person voting during the pandemic.
So far, Elections Supervisor Kaiti Lenhart said, 11,472 ballots have been returned to the office, of 28,607 which were mailed out.
In 2016, the Election Office had only mailed out 11,679.
"We are seeing the trends change in this election year," she said. "We saw that in the March primary, where we had a tremendous amount of vote by mail and less in person. I think those trends are going to hold steady this year. ... Overall I think we’ll probably hit our 30% [turnout] as we usually do, it’s just that the method of voting has certainly changed."
As of the eighth day of early voting, she said, only about 2,800 people have voted early in person.
"We haven’t hit over 500 voters for any single early voting day this entire election," she said, "whereas in the 2016 primary, going back to a similar election, I think our average daily total was around 700. It’s down drastically."
In 2016, the highest single day of early voting saw 821 voters, and the average was about 600 voters daily; this year, there have only been about 200-300 early voters daily.
"The weekend was very slow: We only had 119 voters yesterday," Lenhart said. "We’re just not seeing people turn out in early voting."
Election Day itself, she said, always brings out a group of voters who are loyal Election Day voters.
"This is a very important primary election," she said, noting that races that will or could be decided in the primary include races for School Board, County Commission, public defender and circuit judge. "If [voters] wait to vote in the general, they’re going to lose the chance to have a voice in our local government here."
A ballot mailed from a home in Flagler County typically takes about five business days to make it to the Supervisor of Elections Office, Lenhart said.
First-class mail flows through an out-of-town distribution center and then comes back.
Ballots must be received by the elections office — not just postmarked — by 7 p.m. on Election Day, Aug. 18, to be counted.
In 2018, about 200 ballots trickled in after the deadline on Election Day and could not be counted, while 14,649 were returned on time.
"If they’re worried about the mail delivery, you can return your ballot in person," Lenhart said. "We have secure drop boxes at early voting sites … and also outside of the [Supervisor of Elections] Office in Bunnell."
The drop boxes at the early voting sites will be open only during early voting hours (10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily, including weekends, through Aug. 15), but the drop box outside of the Supervisor of Elections Office is available 24/7. See the box above for details.
"We have a really high return rate for our vote-by-mail ballots," Lenhart said. "Typically 75-80% return for a primary, and for a general it can be even higher."
For more information on voting in Flagler County, go to https://www.flaglerelections.com.
