BY KALIE MCCAUSLAND
NNB Reporter
Sitting at an oblong table inside a glass-walled room are nine individuals overseeing the preservation of democracy.
The table is littered with soda cans, water bottles and Styrofoam take-out containers from a nearby restaurant, it is clear they have been here for awhile.
Part of the group includes the three-member Canvassing Review Board – Deborah Clark, Supervisor of Elections; Dave Eggers, a Pinellas County commissioner; and John Carassas, a county judge. The group is charged with certifying the election, including reviewing and making decisions on mail-in and provisional ballots.
St. Petersburg residents got a chance to vote on three council seats and four referendums Tuesday, Nov. 3. By 7:48 p.m., the unofficial results were in – Steve Kornell (District 5) Lisa Wheeler-Brown (District 7) Charles Gerdes (District 1) won and voters also approved all four referendum questions.
The referendums dealt with protections to sea grass beds, district boundaries, residency restrictions for elected officials and how to tally council member votes.
However, of the 174,729 registered voters a paltry 30,366 ballots were cast, about 17 percent voter turnout. Even still, the majority of the votes, 80 percent, were absentee ballots sent to registered voters homes over a month ago.
This percentage of votes is what the Canvassing Review Board oversees. With a mail-in ballot, voters are asked to sign the exterior of the envelope after filling their ballot. It is then reviewed by a staff member of the Supervisor of Elections Office and if there are any discrepancies it goes to a manager for review and then to the Canvassing Board for determination on the legitimacy of the vote.
The most common error in an absentee ballot is either forgetting a signature entirely or a variation in the signature from the one on the Voters Registration Application of the individual. Each ballot is looked over by several people until it reaches the board, where its ultimate fate is decided in that clear fishbowl room. The number of absentee ballots increases steadily with every election increasing the importance and responsibility of this team of people.
“We are constantly busy trying to keep our voters engaged and educated,” said Jason Latimer, spokesman for the elections office.
Accountability is the Supervisor of Elections Office main purpose. They have the facilities that tally and scan all of the votes, and each paper ballot from all 109 polling locations is transported to their warehouse for review and storage. Though there are a number of provisional ballots that need to be reviewed and tallied, it is quite small in comparison to the growing number of mail-in voters.
The trend is part convenience, Latimer said. It allows voters time to review the ballot carefully and fill it out at their leisure. It is also more cost-effective than hiring additional poll workers on Election Day. There are drawbacks, he said. With less personalized attention a voter might not understand instructions clearly or might need help with the paperwork process. The method also seems to remove any physical action and effort in order to participate in an election.
“People growing up and voting now will never see the inside of a voting booth,” Carassas said while checking mail-in ballots. “They’re missing out on that special experience”