Print

Email story

Comment

Letter to the editor

Today's Letters: Early voting sites not worth the cost

Early voting locations unfair to North PinellasandSome bristling at the ballot boxstory, Jan. 15 and editorial Jan. 22

In response to a recent article and editorial regarding my decision to eliminate remote early voting sites, I feel it necessary to clear up some misconceptions.

To comply with Florida Statute 101.657, early voting is available at our three offices: 315 Court St. in Clearwater, 13001 Starkey Road in Largo and 501 First Ave. N in St. Petersburg.

Voters also have the option of voting on Election Day at their polling places, which are usually within a few miles of home.

Because of the state Legislature's property tax rollbacks in 2007, county commissioners directed all county departments to reduce their budgets. I responded to this mandate by reducing the number of early voting sites from 11 to three, reducing my budget by $460,000. This decision helped provide a 7.8 percent total operational savings in the current budget.

Most of our budget pays for functions and services that are mandated by state law. Remote early voting sites are not legally required, so it was one of the few options available to reduce our budget.

By state statute, if a supervisor chooses to provide remote early voting sites, the sites must be "geographically located so as to provide all county voters an equal opportunity to cast a ballot." In other words, adding one remote site would require other sites in order to comply with the equal accessibility requirement.

Early voting is very expensive and has not increased voter turnout. So, even if we had unlimited funds, it still would not be right to continue spending taxpayers' money for something we know is not cost effective.

We have put into action an aggressive Vote by Mail campaign that provides all of the conveniences of early voting at a greatly reduced cost. We are simply asking voters to help us contain costs by trading one convenience for another.

If we truly want to increase voter participation and reduce election costs, we need to continue our efforts to promote voting by mail. To request ballots by mail please visit our Web site at www.votepinellas.com or give us a call at (727) 464-6788.

Deborah Clark,Pinellas County supervisor of elections

Beware impact of (Clearwater) referendum No. 1 letter by R.G. McCall, Jan. 8

Clearwater ballot issues clarified

First, let me say that we appreciate Mr. McCall's passion for the city he lives in and his desire to know everything he can about the proposed Clearwater city charter amendments on the Tuesday ballot. We also appreciate and understand his desire to protect the parks and recreation/open space that make Clearwater such a wonderful place to live.

For the benefit of our residents, I wanted to fill in some of the blanks that the city's newspaper advertisement about the referendum questions did not. Unfortunately, with limited space, this mandatory advertisement certainly did not provide all the information necessary to make a decision, and for that we apologize.

Question 1 on the upcoming ballot deals with properties up to one-half acre that are suitable for construction of affordable workforce housing.

Currently, the city charter requires that these properties (which come into city possession through a variety of circumstances) be sold to the highest bidder, which makes donation to groups like Habitat for Humanity or the Clearwater Housing Authority impossible without the expense of a public referendum each time one is available.

This amendment simply allows the City Council to approve the donation through a public hearing at a council meeting. The property would still need to be declared surplus property before this could occur.

The donation or sale of any park land designated as Open Space/Recreation would still require a referendum, as outlined separately in the charter. This would not change that requirement. What it would do, however, is give decision-makers the flexibility to work with our housing partners and return unusable property back to the tax rolls and back to productive use for families seeking an affordable home.

You can learn more about this and the other five proposed charter amendments at www.myclearwater.com. You can also see the city charter in its entirety at www.myclearwater.com/gov/codes/index.asp.

There are a number of important issues on Tuesday's ballot, and I encourage you to learn all you can. If you have questions, give us a call and we'll be happy to help.

Jay Polglaze,Charter Review Committee chairman, Clearwater

Your voice counts

You may submit a letter to the editor for possible publication through our Web site at www.tampabay.com/letters, or by faxing it to (727) 445-4119, or by mailing it to Letters, 710 Court St., Clearwater, FL 33756. You must include your name, address and phone number. Letters may be edited for clarity, taste and length.

[Last modified January 26, 2008, 21:45:07]