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Letter to the editor

Today's Letters: Budget cuts forced early-voting limits

Plan for early voting snubs half the county editorial, Jan. 23

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

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You may submit a letter to the editor for possible publication through our Web site at 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 29, 2008, 20:36:17]