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Politics

Bristling at the ballot box

Early voting sites for the Jan. 29 primary are few and far away, irking some North Pinellas residents.

By WILL VAN SANT, Times Staff Writer
Published January 15, 2008

Early voting began Monday in advance of the Jan. 29 presidential primary, giving Pinellas residents the chance to cast ballots at their convenience and avoid the election-day rush.

But some North Pinellas residents are miffed because the nearest early voting location to them is in Clearwater, and the remaining two are even farther away, in Largo and St. Petersburg.

"It doesn't surprise me," said Jim McDonald, president of the Council of North County Neighborhoods, a civic group based in East Lake. "They once again have fallen short of the needs of the people of north county."

For the November 2006 general election, there were 11 early voting sites. Of those, four were north of Clearwater - in Tarpon Springs, Oldsmar, Palm Harbor and Dunedin.

According to the county's Planning Department, 303,100 of Pinellas' 952,655 residents live north of Gulf-to-Bay Boulevard. That's about 32 percent.

Then the state mandated that counties trim their property tax revenue. By the March 2007 election, the Pinellas Supervisor of Elections Office had reduced the number of early voting sites to the current three, allowing the office to reduce its budget by $500,000.

"We had to cut something," elections office spokeswoman Nancy Whitlock said Monday. "If you look around the state, you will see a lot of counties have done this."

Whitlock is right. In Hillsborough County, for instance, election officials have reduced early voting sites from 20 to 13.

But not all counties have cut. Pasco County has the same number of early voting sites - seven - as before the state mandates took effect.

Tarpon Springs Mayor Beverley Billiris said she understands the need for governments to restrain spending and the difficulty of balancing the call for tax relief with the demand for services.

Still, she finds the lack of a nearby early voting site irksome.

"Turnout is bad enough," Billiris said. "We want our constituents to get out there and be a part of the process, but we sure aren't going to make it easy for them."

To some Palm Harbor residents, who are exploring whether to incorporate Palm Harbor as a city, it was no shock to see the North Pinellas early voting sites eliminated.

"That's sort of par for the course," said Palm Harbor resident and incorporation activist Scott Fisher. "We're used to and accustomed to having to travel all the way down to Clearwater to meet with our government."

By law, Whitlock said, the elections office must offer early voting at its primary and branch locations, as it currently does.

That service will remain, but with the office this year getting rid of its touch-screen voting machines in favor of optical scan equipment, it's unlikely the number of locations will grow, Whitlock said.

That's because the optical scan method requires the various paper ballot styles needed in a given election to be available at the polling place, she said. In some elections, Whitlock said, the number of different ballot styles can be well over 10,000.

Storing that number of different ballots at a host of early voting locations presents a security challenge that the elections office is uncomfortable with, Whitlock said.

The elections office does offer an alternative other than early voting for those who want to get their democratic duty done prior to election day: the absentee ballot. Just call 727 464-6788, request the office mail you a ballot, fill it out and send it back.

Will Van Sant can be reached at vansant@sptimes.com or (727) 445-4166.

Fast facts:

To vote early

Early voting is being offered in Pinellas County on Monday to Saturday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. until Jan. 26 at the following locations:

- Election Service Center, Starkey Lakes Corporate Center, 13001 Starkey Road, Largo.

- Pinellas County Courthouse, 315 Court St., Room 117, Clearwater.

- County Building, 501 First Ave. N, St. Petersburg.

For more information visit www.votepinellas.com or call (727) 464-6108.

To get an absentee ballot

To vote absentee and dispose of going to the polls altogether, call (727) 464-6788 and request a ballot.

[Last modified January 14, 2008, 22:38:47]