Kelly Hayes
The Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections is urging voters planning on sending in a mail-in ballot for the Aug. 24 St. Petersburg Primary Elections to do so by the end of Tuesday.
The deadline allows at least one week for the ballot to reach its destination, ensuring that your vote is counted. If you cannot meet that deadline, completed mail-in ballots can be dropped off at any of the three Elections Offices, including on Election Day.
All ballots must be received at a Pinellas County Elections Office by 7 p.m. on Election Day. The deadline to request a mail-in ballot to be sent was last Saturday.
Voters may track their ballot status online at VotePinellas.com/trackmyballot to determine when their ballot was mailed, when their voted ballot was received and when their ballot was counted by the Supervisor of Elections.
So far, of the city’s 189,539 registered voters, 28,111 have cast a ballot, making for a 14.83% turnout so far. Of those who have cast a ballot, 15,173 are Democrats, 8,079 are Republicans, and 4,859 are nonaffiliated or third-party voters.
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 on 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 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
