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Q. A Jacksonville Today reader, Carol B., wants to know whether a digital vote-by-mail ballot is a real voting option in Florida.
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“It looks like an attempt to confuse folks about the process. Is it?”
A. It’s not an attempt to confuse people. It is possible for any voter in Florida’s 67 counties to request a digital ballot if they want to vote in this manner. The elections office calls it an “accessible vote-by-mail ballot.”
Duval County Supervisor of Elections Jerry Holland said this method of voting is available to anyone, but it’s mainly designed for individuals with disabilities who need the services of voice-to-text or a screen magnifier to fill out their ballot.
“It is for a purpose, and that’s for people who really need this on their computer to give them that ability to vote in their own home,” Holland said.
“We email them the ballot. They can fill it out on their equipment,” Holland said. “They must print it out along with the voter certificate, and that must be signed and mailed back in the voter’s own envelope and the voter, of course, has to pay for their own postage.”
Holland said the deadline to return an accessible vote-by-mail ballot is 7 p.m. on Election Day, the same deadline for turning in a typical paper vote-by-mail ballot. The accessible vote-by-mail ballots cannot be returned electronically.
For the upcoming primary election, the deadline to turn in your vote-by-mail ballot is 7 p.m. Aug. 20.
Holland said typically fewer than 200 people who request vote-by-mail ballots in Duval County use the accessible vote-by-mail option.
You can select this option when you request a vote-by-mail ballot from your local supervisor of elections. The deadline to request an accessible vote-by-mail ballot is Aug. 8, the same deadline as requesting a paper vote-by-mail ballot.
If an accessible vote-by-mail ballot request is made in Duval County, the requested ballot will be emailed to the voter from a third-party vendor. That email address is noreply@app.enhancedvoting.com . Holland said all requests for accessible ballots will come from that email address.
Curious about something in Jax? Email your question to news@jaxtoday.org, and a Jacksonville Today reporter might answer it in a future story. Just put #ASKJAXTDY in the subject line. This post appears under a partnership with Jacksonville Today. Never miss an answer. Sign up for the free Jacksonville Today newsletter.