You’ve voted by mail in Manatee County. Here’s how to make sure your ballot counts
If you’ve chosen to vote by mail for the first time, you’re not alone as the August primaries showed a significant spike in mail-in ballot requests amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Unlike other parts of the country, Manatee County has the infrastructure to make voting by mail effective. If there are concerns your mail-in ballot won’t be counted, and you’ve followed all the proper procedures that are involved in requesting and mailing in a ballot, there are ways to make sure your vote is counted.
Once you have mailed in your ballot, or dropped it off at the Manatee County Supervisor of Elections Office at 600 301 Blvd. W., Suite 108, you can track the progress of your ballot online by visiting VoteManatee.com.
After entering your information, you’ll see the date that your ballot was mailed to you and the date it was received by the elections office, as well as whether your ballot has already been tabulated.
“In a tightly controlled process, incoming ballots are scanned in batches of hundreds,” as they are received by the U.S. Postal Service, collected from the secured drop box at the elections office, or collected from early voting locations, according to the elections office website.
You also can drop off your mail ballot at a early voting location. Early voting begins Oct. 19 in Manatee County at six locations that will be open daily to all voters regardless of assigned precinct.
You can also choose to negate your mail-in ballot at polling stations on Election Day, Nov. 3, and opt to vote in person as long as your ballot has not already been delivered and counted.
Every valid vote-by-mail ballot will be counted, but there are responsibilities the voter must take to ensure that happens. Your signature must match your voter signature card, so if you haven’t updated that card in awhile, it’s a good idea to do so as signatures change over the years.
Mail-in ballots must be received by the elections office no later than 7 p.m. on Nov. 3. That means your ballot should have been mailed in ahead of time and not at the last minute. Ballots that are postmarked on or before Nov. 3, but received by the elections office after the deadline will not be counted.
The elections office advises voters to complete mail-in ballots as soon as possible so that if any issues do arise, they can be resolved. For more information, call the elections office at 941-741-3823.