Volusia County special election by mail deadline Tuesday

The deadline is Tuesday for a county-wide special election in Volusia County. Voter turnout for the election is between 25 and 30 percent so far, but election officials say for a special election, that’s pretty good.

Some voters rushed to the Volusia County Courthouse Monday to make sure their vote counts. With its first ever county-wide special election, Volusia opted to do it by mail-in ballot, which is not something everyone trusted.

“There was a woman standing there who can take your ballot. Why would you give your ballot to somebody? I do not believe this is a proper way to hold an election,” said Sandra Cvercko, of Ormond Beach.

The goal was to save money and have greater voter turnout. “I wanted 50 percent. I would've been happy with 40 percent. Thirty percent would have been real good,” said Volusia County Supervisor of Elections Lisa Lewis.

But for now, 25 percent will have to do.

The vote is on a half-cent sales tax increase. Over the weekend, 5,800 came in. Another 2,700 arrived Monday, bringing it to a total of 100,000 of the 400,000 ballots mailed out. Lewis is hoping for more ballots on Tuesday but says these numbers aren’t bad.

“Our primary election last year, 2018, we had a 29% turnout with voting by mail, early voting and with the polls. This is getting very close to that just by mail,” said Lewis.

Other issues popped up. Lewis says 1,700 people didn’t sign their ballots, making them invalid. Election workers spent part of Monday going through the 300 to 400 that were corrected and mailed back. But Lewis says she’d do it again if asked. But some are wondering why.

“I just think that it is more credible to have it at a polling station,” said Cvercko.

Voters in Volusia County have until 7 p.m. Tuesday to drop off their ballot to the courthouse.