Sarasota County Supervisor of Elections Ron Turner will begin mailing vote-by-mail (absentee) ballots for the August 23 Primary Election to military and overseas voters today.

Turner said more than 1,900 ballots will be mailed to active-duty military personnel and their spouses and dependents who are absent from Sarasota County, and to registered Sarasota County voters living overseas. The mailing is required by the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA), which ensures all eligible citizens can register to vote and vote by mail (absentee). Following this initial mailing, ballots will be processed and mailed to UOCAVA voters as requests are received. Turner noted that an additional 114,865 vote-by-mail ballots are scheduled to be mailed to domestic voters beginning July 14.

“Whether you are an overseas or domestic voter, your voted ballot must reach the elections office no later than 7 p.m. on election night to be counted,” Turner said. He also noted that the Voter’s Certificate on the return vote-by-mail envelope must be signed by the voter and that the voter’s signature should match the signature on record in the elections office. The signature on file at the time the voted ballot is received by the supervisor of elections will be used to verify the signature on the Voter’s Certificate. Voters who need to update their signatures for this election may do so by completing a Florida Voter Registration Application and mailing or delivering it in person to any one of the three elections offices in Sarasota, Venice or North Port.

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