This story was updated at 11:15 a.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 22.
TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Despite what they may be going through, voters in Manatee County are making history this election cycle.
Early voter Jessica Bannano encourages neighbors to be a part of the impact.
“Get out there and vote, whoever it is you’re voting for, just make it count,” said Bonanno. “Get out there.”
Monday was record-setting.
“In which 7,100 voters came out to vote beating our previous record by about 27%,” said David Ballard, Manatee County Supervisor of Elections Chief of Staff.
Vote-by-mail ballots included, nearly 34,000 ballots were submitted on the first day of early voting in Manatee County.
Recent hurricanes are causing the Supervisor of Elections Office to work even harder to ensure everyone who wants to cast a ballot has the option.
“For example, you can have your vote by mail ballot sent out to an address that we don’t have on file just by calling into our office,” said Ballard.
The deadline to do that is Thursday, Oct. 24 afternoon.
Another option is ‘ballots on demand’ where you have until election day Nov. 5, to pick up a vote-by-mail ballot and can submit it the same day at the Manatee County Supervisor of Elections Office.
That’s where we ran into Ricky Slicker and his wife Tuesday morning.
“It’s so important for your vote to get out and they’ve made it easy for you to go to other locations if you can’t make it to a location because it was destroyed or something was wrong,” said Slicker.
Some election day polling sites have been moved so they are more accessible:
- Precinct 301 and Precinct 305 will vote at Island Branch Library in Holmes Beach
- Precinct 307 will vote at Longboat Island Chapel in Longboat Key
- Precinct 409 will vote at State College of Florida in Bradenton
- Precinct 421 will vote at Trailer Estates Recreation Hall in Bradenton
8 polling locations are also open to early voters 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. through Nov. 2:
- Braden River Library: 4915 53rd Avenue East, Bradenton
- GT Bray Park: 5502 33rd Avenue Drive West, Bradenton
- Lakewood Ranch Library: 16410 Rangeland Parkway, Lakewood Ranch
- Lakewood Ranch Town Hall: 8175 Lakewood Ranch Blvd., Lakewood Ranch
- Palmetto Library: 923 6th Street West, Palmetto
- Parrish Fire District Station #2: 3804 North Rye Road, Parrish
- Rocky Bluff Library: 6750 US Highway 301, Ellenton
- Supervisor of Elections Office: 600 301 Blvd. West, Suite 118, Bradenton
“It can be harder because if they can’t through flooding, car issues and all of that,” said Bannano. “See if you can get a ride, have somebody help you get out there but you can do it.”
Understandably, not all 281,798 eligible voters in the county can make it out to early voting, but many of the thousands of early voters Tuesday morning believe it’s worth it whenever they can.
“It was very important to us and it should be to everybody,” said Slicker. “This is the one thing we can do in life that makes America what it is.”
“Just because they lost their home doesn’t mean they lost their vote,” said Ballard.
A previous version of this story can be found below:
Manatee County’s supervisor of elections announced Monday that early voter turnout has been high, and several polling locations will be changing due to Hurricane Milton.
Early voting began Monday and runs 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. through Nov. 2. Those voting early can visit any of the below locations.
- Braden River Library: 4915 53rd Avenue East, Bradenton
- GT Bray Park: 5502 33rd Avenue Drive West, Bradenton
- Lakewood Ranch Library: 16410 Rangeland Parkway, Lakewood Ranch
- Lakewood Ranch Town Hall: 8175 Lakewood Ranch Blvd., Lakewood Ranch
- Palmetto Library: 923 6th Street West, Palmetto
- Parrish Fire District Station #2: 3804 North Rye Road, Parrish
- Rocky Bluff Library: 6750 US Highway 301, Ellenton
- Supervisor of Elections Office: 600 301 Blvd. West, Suite 118, Bradenton
Related video above: Thousands of general election ballots are in early for Hillsborough County
Those voting on Election Day must go to their assigned polling location. The following five locations will be changed for Election Day voting due to damage from recent hurricanes.
- Precinct 301 and Precinct 305 will vote at Island Branch Library
- Precinct 307 will vote at Longboat Island Chapel
- Precinct 409 will vote at State College of Florida
- Precinct 421 will vote at Trailer Estates Recreation Hall
“Despite these challenging times, we know that Manatee County is a resilient community,” Supervisor of Elections James Satcher said in a statement. “Our priority is to ensure you can exercise your right to vote in this important upcoming election.”
Voters can find their sample ballots on the Supervisor of Elections website.
