Five members of the League of Women Voters of North Pinellas County attended the Joint Board of County Commissioners/State Delegation Meeting on Friday, January 31, 2025.
This annual meeting provides an opportunity for Pinellas County government to outline priority issues it wants legislators to address during the upcoming 2025 legislative session.
Supervisor of Elections Update
Julie Marcus, Supervisor of Elections (SOE), provided an update on her office and discussed the adverse impact of back-to-back hurricanes on department resources. She emphasized the importance of maintaining a balance among voters who utilize early voting sites, vote by mail, and vote in person on Election Day. The hurricanes placed significant strain on her office, requiring swift collaboration with Pinellas County officials to identify alternative polling places and notify voters of changes. These adjustments included designating the SOE office as both an early voting and Election Day voting site. Additionally, there was a notable decline in the number of vote-by-mail ballots received for the 2024 election.
Beyond the hurricane-related challenges, Marcus highlighted ongoing issues affecting election administration. She noted a decrease in available polling sites, a shortage of election poll workers, and an aging population of existing workers. Another pressing concern is the continued decline in vote-by-mail participation. She attributed this trend, in part, to 2022 legislation that removed the checkbox on the back of vote-by-mail envelopes, requiring voters to submit a new request for each general election.
Marcus reported that the county currently has only 13,800 vote-by-mail requests on file—a staggering 95% decline from the number of ballots mailed to residents in the previous election. The additional administrative burden of repeatedly reminding voters to reapply for a mail ballot further strains the SOE’s resources.
The Supervisor of Elections stressed the importance of providing eligible voters with accessible voting options. She urged legislators to restore the checkbox on the back of the vote-by-mail envelope, arguing that this simple change—requiring only a single sentence amendment to existing legislation—would significantly increase vote-by-mail participation and help balance the election system.
The league wholeheartedly agrees and encourages voters to call their legislators and ask that they Bring Back The BOX!
