Episode Transcript
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[music]
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Hello, welcome to Patrons & Partnerships,
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the podcast presented by the Library Partnership branch
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of the Alachua County Library District.
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Today our guest is Aaron Klein, the Director of Communications and Outreach
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for the Supervisor of Elections for Alachua County. Welcome.
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Thank you very much. Thank you for having me and having our office on the show.
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Okay, can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your backgrounds?
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How you got to be the Director of Communications and Outreach?
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Sure, absolutely. My name is Aaron Klein,
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I'm very happy to be Director of Communications and Outreach
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for the Alachua County Supervisor of Elections Office.
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I have a background in public administration and government.
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I was fortunate enough to attend the University of Florida
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where I achieved my Bachelor's and Master's degree
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with a focus in Political Science for both. I worked in government previously,
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you know, primarily in a communications capacity.
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And recently, I got an opportunity to return to Gainesville
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after being away for some time, returned to Alachua County,
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and work for the Supervisor of Elections Office. And it's just a fabulous role.
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We're led by a really experienced supervisor, Kim A. Barton.
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And we have just a fantastic office that really is dedicated to public service.
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So it's kind of an exciting time probably for you.
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There have been a lot of changes. Can you talk a little bit
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about the upcoming primary and general elections?
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Absolutely, absolutely. So 2022 is a general election year.
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Of course, first, before we get to the November elections
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that voters are so familiar with, we have the primary elections.
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On August 23rd, 2022, we will be having both county-wide
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and there will be voting happening across the state, the primary elections.
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So that's when voters are going to be first choosing nominees
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to appear on the general election ballot and also voting
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in some nonpartisan races as well, depending on if they live in certain municipalities,
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and of course, for some county races. And one thing we reiterate is,
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you know, it's really important to try to participate in every election you can,
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you know. If you want a fully informed opportunity in November to vote
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in that general election ballot, you should absolutely participate in the August primary.
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Some things to note about August, of course, is the deadlines.
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I always want to bring that up. The first key deadline to keep in mind
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for the August 23rd primary is July 25th. That is the deadline
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to register to vote to be able to participate in the August primary.
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If you are not registered at all come July 25th and that day passes,
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you will not be able to participate in August. So please, if you're,
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you know, you've recently turned 18 or you're just moved to Florida
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and you want to participate, go ahead and register to vote as soon as possible.
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There are a ton of ways to do it, and I'd be happy to walk you through that.
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And then the last thing I'll say about the primaries,
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since that's the most immediate thing to look forward to,
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is Florida is a closed primary state. That means that you will only
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be able to vote for partisan races come August for those races
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where the candidate has a party that matches your party affiliation.
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And what that means is say come, you know, August, you are no party affiliation.
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That means on your ballot in August, you will not be able to vote for the nominees
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for the governor's race, for Senate, the United States Senate race,
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for the state legislative races. You will need to declare a party by July 25th
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to then be able to participate in that party's primary in August.
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So can you talk a little bit about registering as an independent, then?
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Aaron: Mhmm.
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If there is an independent candidate on the ballot,
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if you are registered as an independent, are you able to vote for that candidate?
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So the way it works is say, if you're registered
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as no party affiliation for those partisan races, you would not be able to vote,
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say, in the governor's race to choose the Republican nominee
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or the Democratic nominee. Now there is a possibility
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if you registered to vote on the form as a minor party
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and you specified what minor party that would be, then perhaps
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if there is a race involving a minor party on the ballot,
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you could participate in that one. But if you are no party affiliation officially,
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if you've made the designation, I am not choosing to be a member of the party,
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then your ballot is going to look very different from someone
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who has that expressed partisan affiliation.
4:40
There are of course some nonpartisan races you'll be able to participate in.
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I can tell you in August, the ballot is going to be quite filled with important races,
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some of which are nonpartisan. For example, for our Gainesville residents,
4:51
much of the City Commission is going to be on the ballot.
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A lot of the school board as well is going to be on the ballot come August.
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So of course, you can make the choice to be no party affiliation
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and participate in those races, some of those nonpartisan races,
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but your options will be limited because you won't be able to choose
5:09
nominees for some of those governor and Senate races and those sorts of things.
5:14
So that was registering for the primary election.
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If you're not registered in time to participate in that,
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what is the deadline for registering for the primary?
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Aaron: Ah, very good question.
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That's why I bring my handy voter guide to make sure I have -
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Tina: I mean for the general, I'm sorry.
5:30
Absolutely. Here it is. Yes, the deadline is October 11th, 2022.
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I want to make sure I have those dates completely correct. So to be clear,
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say you are not registered to vote come July 26th, the day after the deadline
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for the primary election, you can still register to vote after that
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and have plenty of time to participate in the general election.
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If you register to vote in September, you will certainly,
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as long as your registration information is correct,
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be able to participate for the November election.
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And that last deadline to participate in the general election is October 11th, 2022.
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Can you talk about the different ways people can register to vote,
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different places, different locations that they can register?
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Sure. So there are a lot of different options
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to register to vote in the state of Florida. First of all,
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you can do so at your own convenience online at registertovoteflorida.gov.
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You can access that website directly. You can also go on our website,
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votealachua.gov - .com will also take you to our website -
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and find a link to that website. It’s the state of Florida's voter registration platform.
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You can do so by filling out the paper voter registration application.
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And you can do that by coming to our office, 515 North Main Street, Suite 300.
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We're in Gainesville. Or you can also download the form online on our website,
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At any Alachua County Library, at a DMV, at many agencies that serve the public.
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Just ask for the voter registration application. Not only will they provide that to you,
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but they can also mail it to us as well in a timely manner.
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So there are a number of options. And of course, if you prefer to take care of it yourself,
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you could always download the paper application, print it out,
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and either mail it to us - again 515 North Main Street -
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or take it to us directly, and we'll make sure you've covered
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all the required boxes with you and go ahead and process it for you.
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Okay, and so if someone mails the registration form in,
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as long as it's postmarked by the deadline, does it count?
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Received. It needs to be received - Tina: It needs to be received. - by that deadline. So for the primary, it’s gonna be July 25th, 2022.
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You need to make sure we have it at the end of business hours that day.
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Now, of course, it kind of avoids any possible issues with the mail
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if you take care of it either in person, or do so
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at registertovoteflorida.gov at your own convenience.
7:52
How long does it take usually to process if you apply online?
7:56
Oh, that, that process? I couldn't speak to any specifics there. It depends,
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you know, the way it works is we're going to take the form and submit it
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to the Department of State and Division of Elections,
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who's then going to verify your eligibility. So it really depends on
8:10
what's going on on their end, but we can guarantee you
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we will process it and send it along to them before the deadline.
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So we've talked about ways to participate and registering.
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Can you talk a little bit about the changes to the election law
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for this upcoming election season?
8:24
Absolutely. So the August 2022 primary is the first county-wide election
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taking place since the passage of Senate Bill 90 back in 2021
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and the recent passage of Senate Bill 524 by the Florida State legislature
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and signed into law by the governor of Florida. So there are some changes
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that voters should be aware of from both of those pieces of legislation.
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First of all, it's important to cover changes to the vote-by-mail process
8:52
under those pieces of legislation. First and foremost,
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one thing we want voters to be aware of is vote-by-mail is absolutely
9:00
still an option for you, and some of those same options that you were used to
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in the 2020 election still exist. The use of drop boxes,
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which according to statute are now called Secure Ballot Intake Stations.
9:12
Those will still be available at early voting locations during early voting times.
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But it's important to keep in mind some things
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that were passed in Senate Bill 90 especially.
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So first of all, if you are a registered Alachua County voter
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and you would like to request a vote-by-mail ballot for the upcoming election,
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you will need to provide identification information
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within your vote-by-mail request form. Now, that means either
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a valid state of Florida ID or a valid Florida driver's license or the last four digits
9:44
of your Social Security number. You can take care of that process in a number of ways.
9:48
If you're a registered voter, you can call our office and you can come by
9:53
and take one of the forms that we have, the vote-by-mail request forms, and complete it.
9:57
You can download that form on our website and mail it to us,
10:00
or you can also do that online. On votealachua.gov,
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you'll see a tab that says Vote by Mail. And it will require
10:07
the same information that is required to do the form in print.
10:11
But it's important you recognize that is a change.
10:13
You will need to provide that additional identification information.
10:16
We would also like to make voters aware - so speaking about vote by mail -
10:20
that there was a change in the length of time your request
10:24
for a vote-by-mail ballot will be valid. So previously,
10:28
if you made a vote-by-mail request, you could request that
10:32
vote-by-mail ballots be sent to your address for two general election periods.
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Senate Bill 90 changed that to one general election.
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So for example, if you requested a vote-by-mail ballot in May of 2022,
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the maximum amount of time you could request a vote-by-mail ballot
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be sent to your residence under that request
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would be through the end of 2022. So we recommend that voters
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make a new request for vote-by-mail ballots every odd numbered year.
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If you make it in 2023, it will last all the way through the end of 2024
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as long as you designate that on the form. That is another change.
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And those are two really critical ones for voters specifically to be aware of.
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Beyond that, there are some important changes for anyone
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who wants to act as a third party voter registration organization.
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There are changes to the guidelines you must follow if you want to register
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or help register voters at community events or with an organization.
11:32
There are changes to guidelines regarding how long you have
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to deliver those applications to us or to the Division of Elections.
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And there are changes to the amount of penalties that could take place
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if you fail to fulfill your obligations to deliver those applications.
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So it is very much worth taking a look at the legislation,
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taking a look at materials that are to come from our office about them,
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and giving us a call, absolutely, if you have any questions.
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Okay. And there was also a change with the secure boxes, though, as well.
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They are only accessible during certain hours, correct?
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Aaron: Correct. So, it is a complicated issue because
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it has been in litigation recently. But in effect, SB-90, and then SB-524,
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those were the two pieces of legislation, put in statute that
12:18
the secure ballot intake stations have to be monitored at all times.
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And so to ensure that we are able to monitor the secure ballot intake stations
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at all times, we are restricting their availability to either be
12:30
at the Supervisor of Elections Office just around the early voting period.
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So I'll give you the full dates in just a second. And then at early voting locations,
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the seven that we have around the county, during early voting.
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I can give you the full dates right now. So for the primary election,
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the secure ballot intake station will start by being available
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at the Supervisor of Elections office from August 8th through August 12th, 9am to 6pm.
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And then it will be available at all seven early voting locations from 9am to 6pm,
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from August 13th to August 20th. And then again, it will be available
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at the Supervisor of Elections Office on August 21st - that's a Sunday;
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August 22nd - that's the Monday before election day;
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both of those days, 9am to 6pm.
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And then on August 23rd, it will only be available
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at the Supervisor of Elections office - that's election day. So from 7am to 7pm.
13:27
Okay. So I do want to talk to you about the website as well.
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I was looking at it this morning. And there seems to be a lot of intention
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and thought that went into making it as simple
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and as easily navigable as possible. Can you talk a little bit about that?
13:42
Sure. Absolutely. So our office is very proud of our website.
13:46
We wanted to ensure that it has a balance of having all the information
13:50
that Alachua County residents and voters need to participate in elections,
13:54
while also ensuring that we have front of mind the information they'll need,
13:59
say, for the next couple of weeks as they get ready
14:01
for whatever's going on in elections in Alachua County.
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So for example, on our homepage, if you just go to votealachua.gov,
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you'll see some helpful buttons in red and blue. When you click them,
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those are going to take you to the most pressing things
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that our office wants you to know about. Recently, that has been redistricting
14:18
and any new maps that we were able to finalize on our website
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to make available to the public. There may be election dates
14:26
and other important information like that. So we wanted our homepage
14:30
to ensure that voters have access to the most pressing things
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they need to know about, while at the same time
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it's a well organized website with all the resources that voters need,
14:39
especially when we aren't available outside of those business hours.
14:42
So if you want to sign up to vote by mail, as we said,
14:46
if you want to actually check your registration status
14:49
to find out what precinct you're assigned to, what residence we have on file,
14:54
and what party affiliation you are under. And closer to the election,
14:58
you'll actually be able to track if your vote has been sent in the mail,
15:02
has been received by our office and of course been tabulated by our office.
15:06
You'll be able to see that as well. Any key updates you should know about,
15:11
you'll see a press releases and an archive for previous things
15:14
we've put out to our media partners and to the public.
15:17
And then, of course, any kind of resources you'll need,
15:21
such as the addresses for early voting locations, the list of precincts,
15:26
and of course, the election dates for early voting and some key deadlines as well.
15:30
So we're very happy with our website. We know that residents and voters
15:34
want options when they're trying to learn about elections and participate.
15:37
And we're happy that's one of those options to give them information.
15:40
Well, the way you talk about it, it sounds like there's a lot of information.
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But my experience here working at the library is there are a lot of people
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that don't have a lot of technology skills and they might be intimidated
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by hearing all of the information that you just talked about that's on the website.
15:56
But that's why it's so impressive to me to look at it.
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And there's a lot of information, but it's very well laid out
16:02
so that it simplifies the process for people, especially those
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who may be intimidated by the thought of going onto a website
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and applying for anything. So, yeah, I was very impressed.
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Yeah, I appreciate that. And I can tell you that it's not just one person updating the website.
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I think the reason why we would agree that it's very well laid out
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is because it's a collaborative effort across the office.
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When, for example, one of our election clerks continuously receives calls
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about maybe a point of confusion from a voter, they're going to let me
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or someone who's working on the website know saying, hey,
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maybe it would be a good idea to move this to this tab or to update this page
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just to clarify this issue. And we're very, you know, welcoming, of course,
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of input both from the public and from our own staff to ensure
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that we're getting a good idea of what the public needs as it relates to our website.
16:49
Well, I think it's empowering, too, I mean, on multiple levels.
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Knowing that, you know, a person can go on and navigate,
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but that they're also doing something to give voice.
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They're registering to vote, they're learning information, you know,
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and so it's, it's very empowering.
17:02
Aaron: Absolutely.
17:04
So you mentioned redistricting. And I know that this isn't on our list of topics,
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but how will that impact Alachua County voters?
17:12
So it is very important to kind of know the background of redistricting -
17:15
and reprecincting - for voters to understand how, of course,
17:19
their participation in the elections may be impacted.
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So first of all, redistricting takes place every 10 years at all levels of government
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due to the publication of the data from the United States Census.
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So every level of government is taking a look at their boundaries,
17:35
at their precincts, and at the different blocks geographically
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of where residents lived, where they have moved every 10 years
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to think about how they're going to lay out their maps and update those.
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And of course, with those maps, from our perspective in Elections,
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update where precincts are and who is assigned to precincts.
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Now, I will tell you changes to reprecincting, which is our office’s responsibility
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as the Supervisor of Elections, they were taken to minimize the amount of changes
18:05
and disruption possible for voters. We were aiming to avoid split precincts
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and to avoid confusion and to try to maintain continuity
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while also ensuring that we were as consistent as possible with the maps
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within other levels of government. So it was a balancing act,
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but we really use a data-informed process to complete it.
18:25
Now let's talk about exactly what voters need to know.
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First, voters will be receiving new voter information cards
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that will reflect the changes to redistricting and reprecincting.
18:37
Hopefully by the end of June, we will be able to send those out.
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And it is very important that they both take a look at those cards
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and if they have any questions about it, call us or visit our website
18:49
to check My Registration Status and see, you know,
18:52
where they have been assigned, if there were any changes.
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Now I do want to clarify, the voter information cards do not serve as valid ID
19:01
when you're voting in person. They are merely an informational resource.
19:05
But they're going to provide you information about, for example,
19:08
what State House District you may reside in. There have been some changes
19:12
to the Florida State House map across the state.
19:15
What state senate district you are voting in, and that may impact
19:19
what representative may represent you or your voting for, or voting on, rather.
19:25
You are going to have updates about what congressional district you live in.
19:29
And of course, if there are any precinct changes to where
19:33
you're supposed to go on election day. So it's very important
19:36
for voters to both keep an eye out for those voter information cards to come.
19:40
And I can't encourage it enough, give our office a call if you have any questions.
19:45
I mean, I speak highly for a reason about our dedicated staff.
19:49
You know, it's a team effort. We have the experience
19:52
and we have the resources to help you if you have any questions
19:55
about what's going on around Election Day.
19:56
Thank you very much. Is there anything you would like to add
19:59
or anything else you would like to to talk about before we close?
20:02
Sure, I think, you know, one thing I would encourage all voters
20:05
to do this election year is, and keeping in mind some of the impacts
20:11
of the COVID-19 pandemic in previous years, and of course,
20:14
the unexpected that we may deal with. Living in Florida, you know,
20:18
the August primary’s taking place during hurricane season.
20:21
So I encourage voters to make a plan to participate as much as possible.
20:25
Some of that can be establishing very simple things they can do
20:29
to feel more confident and empowered to vote. Figure out,
20:32
are you going to vote by mail? Have you made that request?
20:35
Are you planning on voting early? Are you planning on voting on Election Day?
20:39
How are you going to get to the precinct, you know,
20:41
what are your transportation options? What time of day do you plan on going,
20:45
you know? On election day, it's open 7am to 7pm,
20:48
but you’ll need to go to your assigned precinct.
20:51
So what's the best way to get there? When can you fit in work,
20:54
or possibly school, to make that happen?
20:57
I would encourage voters from as early on as possible to make a plan.
21:01
And of course, I know I'm repeating myself, give us a call
21:04
if you need any help making that plan, because we really want Alachua County voters
21:09
to feel comfortable participating in the upcoming elections.
21:13
One thing I didn't add, and I thought about it at the very end,
21:16
but does the Supervisor of Election need volunteers for….?
21:16
Aaron: Ah, we are absolutely accepting applicants
21:22
to be election workers come early voting and Election Day.
21:26
We're actually in the process of doing some trainings
21:28
for our election workers right now. So you know, you can actually access
21:32
the application on our website. If you scroll to the right of the website,
21:36
you'll see a tab about becoming an election worker, and please,
21:39
send that application to us, or give us a call if you have any questions.
21:43
We would love to have you. We have a lot of different options
21:45
for what you can do and, of course, when you can work for an election.
21:49
You know, it's funny, we get people who were like, Yeah, you know,
21:53
I'm not free on August 23rd, so I don't know if I can be an election worker.
21:57
Oh, no, believe me! We can absolutely have your help for the early voting period
22:02
in a myriad of different ways. You know, elections aren't just one day, you know,
22:05
they have a pretty long range of dates where we're doing this work.
22:09
So we would be happy to have you if you're interested.
22:11
There are some requirements. So please look at those,
22:14
including being a registered Alachua County voter, but please, absolutely.
22:17
If you're interested, let us know.
22:18
Thank you very much. Thank you for being our guests today.
22:22
And good luck with the upcoming election season. And have a nice day.
22:27
Thank you. Aaron: Thank you very much. I appreciate your time. [music]
22:40
Thanks for listening to Patrons & Partnerships.
22:42
If you know of an individual or organization
22:45
you’d like to recommend for an interview, email us at [email protected].
22:53
To listen to more episodes, find us on anywhere you listen to podcasts.
22:59
The library's annual summer art show is on. Artists aged 18 or older
23:02
are invited to submit their artwork between July 1st and July 30th
23:06
to see their art displayed in a virtual gallery on our website and on our social media.
23:09
Visit our site and look under the Events tab for the link to the entry form.
23:14
Alachua County teens ages 11 to 17 looking to read and flex their trivia skills
23:18
this summer can join the library district's annual Battle of the Books.
23:21
Participants receive free copies of the three books selected for the competition,
23:25
then face off in the Battle of the Books on July 23rd on Zoom.
23:28
Check this episode description for a link to register.
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