Supervisor of Elections announces $1.6 million grant awarded
to enhance mail ballot process for military voters

  
Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections Deborah Clark announces a $1.6 million grant to enhance the absentee voting process for military and overseas citizens has been awarded to a 13-county coalition of supervisors of elections, which includes Pinellas County.

The Electronic Absentee Systems for Elections (EASE) grant was awarded today (November 10) by the Federal Voting Assistance Program.

Using the system, voters can request, mark and track their absentee ballots electronically. The system will be designed to provide greater online access, automate absentee requests and expedite ballot delivery making the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act voting process more seamless. Speeding up ballot delivery is expected to increase ballot request and return rates of military and overseas voters.

“We are excited to be able to provide this electronic system for ballot delivery. Providing ballot access to our men and women serving our country overseas is of the utmost importance. We feel it is our duty to do everything we can to protect their right to vote, just as they feel it is their duty to protect ours,” Clark said.

Members of the Our Mission: Your Vote coalition include Baker, Bay, Bradford, Clay, Duval, Escambia, Leon, Nassau, Okaloosa, Pinellas, Putnam, Sarasota, and Wakulla Counties—serving nearly every major military installation in Florida. The coalition will begin transmitting ballots electronically to absent military voters and those living overseas during the 2012 election cycle.

For more information, contact the Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections by calling (727) 464-VOTE.