Kelly Hayes
The Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections mailed 95,381 ballots Tuesday to kick off the St. Petersburg Primary Election. Another 1,438 ballots have been mailed to absent military and overseas voters.
The St. Pete Primary Election is set for Aug. 24. The city of St. Pete has a total of 190,965 registered voters as of June, made up of 89,057 Democrats, 49,992 Republicans and 51,916 third party or no-party affiliated voters.
The city won’t hold early voting for the upcoming election, but if unable to make it to the polls on Election Day, mail-in ballots are available.
All eligible registered voters can request a mail-in ballot by calling 727-464-8683 or by emailing [email protected]. Voters must provide name, date of birth, and either a Florida driver license, Florida identification card number or the last four digits of a Social Security number. The deadline to request that a ballot be mailed is 5 p.m. on Aug. 16. Voters can still pick up a mail-in ballot after that date at a Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections office.
Mail ballots must be received at one of the three Elections Offices by 7 p.m. on Election Day. The mail-in ballots cannot be accepted at polling locations. The Supervisor of Elections also advises voters to send in mail-in ballots at least one week before Election Day.
The ballot will include the Mayor’s race and three City Council races. Two additional City Council races will appear on the General Election ballot, since the races have only two candidates.
The top two vote-getters in each race on the Aug. 24 ballot will advance to the General Election Nov. 2.
The Mayor’s race includes eight candidates and one write-in. Mayoral candidates include City Council members Robert Blackmon and Darden Rice, former Pinellas County Commissioner Ken Welch, former City Council member Wengay Newton, restaurateur Pete Boland, University of South Florida St. Pete student Michael Ingram, marketer Marcile Powers and community activist Torry Nelson.
The District 1 Special Election to replace City Council member Blackmon, who is running for Mayor, drew four candidates. Voters will choose from five candidates in the Aug. 24 Primary Election for District 4, and four candidates in District 8.
District 1 Special Election (held congruent with regular elections)
— Edwin Carlson
— Copley Gerdes
— John Hornbeck
— Bobbie Shay Lee
District 4
— Jarib Figueredo
— Lisset Hanewicz
— Clifford Hobbs
— Tom Mullins
— Douglas O’Dowd
District 8
— Jeff Danner
— Richie Floyd
— Dane Kuplicki
— Jamie Mayo
