Yesterday, The Miami Herald fielded a call from a voter confused about early voting. Here are the dates:
Oct. 2- Oct. 31: Absentee ballots can be requested and returned by mail (and, technically, you can drop off your absentee ballot at the elections office in person)
Oct. 27-Nov. 3: Early voting
Why the confusion? The Tampa Bay Times Buzz blog has some clues:
Pasco County Supervisor of Elections Brian Corley is warning voters
about potentially misleading early voting information after his office
received hundreds of inquiries from voters Tuesday wanting to cast early
ballots.Early voting in Florida doesn't begin until Oct. 27 and lasts
through Nov. 3. Corley traced one of the complaints to a robocall from
Organizing for America, an arm of the Democratic Party.
OFA spokesman Eric Jotkoff said the call refers to a program where
voters can request an absentee ballot at the elections office and fill
it out on the spot. Corley said that program is known as a "carry-out
absentee ballot," which is available now. But he said some voters
specifically mentioned early voting.
"It is causing, I would say, massive confusion," Corley said. "The problem is the message going out is severely misleading."
Jotkoff provided the Times with a copy of the robocall script,
which does not use the term "early voting." This issue arose a day after
Corley took a complaint from a voter about an OFA volunteer who
initially said he worked for the elections office. The man told the
voter there was a problem with her voter registration status, though
officials confirmed her registration is fine.
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