Tuesday’s District 3 town hall meeting at Brownsville Assembly of God church was a packed house, which meant everyone who submitted a question form didn’t get to ask their question at  the meeting.

But I worked to get answers to those questions of the folks to whom they were directed.

I also added a couple of my own as they arose.

Here are Escambia Supervisor of Elections David Stafford’s responses to questions meant for him.

HUGH KING asked: Can you review the procedural considerations involved in tabulating votes, collecting and counting absentee ballots, and the statutes regarding each.

STAFFORD: Mr. King’s question is not easily answered in a succinct manner. There are numerous provisions of the Florida Election Code (Chapters 97-106, Florida Statutes), administrative rules, Division of Elections and Attorney General Opinions, Federal statutes and regulations, court cases, legal opinions, etc. that come into play.  A good source of basic information is our website: http://EscambiaVotes.com, and the Division of Elections http://election.dos.state.fl.us/

We also publish a voter guide, which is available at our office, public assistance offices, public libraries, driver’s license offices, and many other locations, as well as online:http://escambiavotes.net/linked/VoterGuide.pdf

I asked: What will be the two new early voting locations, and what is the deadline to register to vote or to update your information.

STAFFORD: We have not finalized our early voting locations, but we will use three of the five from the 2012 election: Our main office, the Downtown library and the Southwest Branch library.

We plan to relocate from the Tryon Branch library to the Genealogy Branch (the former Tryon Branch) a mile away for space and parking reasons.

Our branch office in Cantonment is no longer available to us, as the county leased it to Community Action), so we will be using the newly renovated Molino Community Center.

We are looking to add a site somewhere near the Mobile/Michigan/Saufley area, and another near the U.S.29/Interstate10/Nine Mile and 10 Mile roads area. These two areas were not able to be served in the past, as they did not include any sites allowable under Florida statutes.

Again, these are not yet finalized. Once we finalize the locations, hours and days, we will publicize them, including placing the information in the sample ballot we send to each registered voter in the county prior to early voting.

At minimum, early voting will be held from Aug.16-23 for the primary, and Oct. 25 – Nov. 1 for the general election, for a minimum of eight hours per day. We have flexibility to add more days and hours, which we will likely do for the general election.

The registration books close 29 days before each election, which means no new registrations can be processed during that time. This also applies to party changes before the primary. The deadline for the Aug. 26 primary election is July 28; the deadline for the Nov. 4 general election is Oct. 6.  All other updates can still be made after books close, including a transfer in from another county.

We encourage all voters to make their updates prior to Election Day, and the earlier the better. Do not wait until the last minute!  Most updates can be done over the phone (595-3900) or through our website (www.escambiavotes.com) or email ([email protected])

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