NAPLES, Fla – Thursday morning, the Collier County Supervisor of Elections Office will ask permission to begin opening ballots starting Thursday. If they get approval, the office believes it will be the earliest it's ever been allowed to do so, and it all has to do with the increase in mail-in voting due to COVID-19.
The request to start opening Thursday will follow a public meeting that's scheduled at the office headquarters at 10 a.m.
It will first run a logic and accuracy test, which is a public meeting that's held to show their machines are working correctly. If all goes well, they'll then ask the canvassing board for permission. The panel includes the supervisor of elections, chief county commissioner, and chief judge.
If it gets that approval to start opening and preparing ballots to be tabulated Thursday, it anticipates the tabulation process would begin early to mid-week next week.
The office has flexibility to request an earlier start date from the governor's executive order, due to the pandemic and the surge expected when it comes to mail-in voting.
The office said it's sent the most ballots this year than ever before in collier county.
“We've sent out over 108,000 ballots to voters, and that just increases every day,” said Trish Robertson, Collier County Supervisor of Elections Office Public Relations Officer.
In 2016, the office had 67,374 requests. Of that, 57,157 voted by mail. So far of the more than 108,000 requested mail-in ballots for the 2020 general election, and 8,819 have been cast by mail.
