The Brooksville City Council race between Frankie Burnett and Joe Bernardini did not appear on the ballots of sixty-five voters who recently became residents of the City of Brooksville through city annexations. The Supervisor of Elections, Shirley Anderson, explained that her office was never informed of the change by the City of Brooksville.
The distribution lists on the last three city annexations did not include the Supervisor of Elections Office.
Anderson stated, “We cannot make changes to our system if we do not receive the information. As Supervisor of Elections it is my responsibility to make sure voters get the correct ballot and have the opportunity to cast their vote for the candidates they are lawfully entitled to. However; my hands are tied if I am not notified of changes to city boundaries.”
The 65 voters affected by the annexations have already been sent new voter registration cards indicating that they are in precinct 4 and vote at the Jerome Brown Community Center.
Eight of the 65 voters are registered to vote by mail and have not submitted their ballots yet. New ballots with the city council race were sent to these voters. Twenty-six of the voters have submitted their vote by mail ballots and 6 submitted an early voting ballot.
The situation was discovered when a voter who was assigned to vote in precinct 10 at the Grace World Outreach Church, informed poll workers she had been given the wrong ballot. After consulting with the property appraiser’s office, they were able to give her a provisional ballot for precinct 4.
The situation will be discussed further by the Canvassing Board on Tuesday Nov. 1st.
During early voting, a separate situation emerged involving 3 voters residing at the same residence within the City of Brooksville, which was not part of the annexations. K.O. Smith, his wife and mother-in-law received ballots that did not have the city council race on it. Smith and his wife both voted at Grace World Outreach Church last week, while Smith’s mother in law submitted a vote by mail ballot.
Anderson stated that this situation was due to an error by a former employee, but her office has not yet been able to examine the error through the vendor auditing system to determine the extent of the issue.
The Canvassing Board and the Supervisor of Elections discussed the course of action to remedy both ballot situations on Tuesday November 1st. Anderson explained that the canvassing board was in support of her decision to provide a supplemental ballot containing only the City Council race on it to all the voters affected by the errors who have already cast a ballot.
Anderson wrote in a statement on November 1, “In effort to provide a remedy for the voters in the City of Brooksville, I am proposing a plan to provide all voters who have voted an incorrect ballot which omitted the City of Brooksville City Council race whether vote-by-mail voters or early voters. Those electors will be given an opportunity to cast a supplemental ballot, and the rationale is that in the absence of clear statutory direction, the best course of action is one that enfranchises as much of the voting electorate as possible.”
The City of Brooksville sent out a press release on Nov. 1, encouraging registered voters who live in the City of Brooksville to double check their voter information cards prior to heading to the polling place. If the voting precinct is not listed as Jerome Brown Community Center (JBCC), they may not receive a ballot with the Brooksville City Council race on it. Until Nov. 5th, city residents can cast an early vote at the South Brooksville Community Center, 601 E. Dr. Martin Luther King Boulevard, Brooksville, FL 34601. Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. They encourage voters registered as City of Brooksville residents to make sure your voting ballot includes the City of Brooksville Election. If you are registered as a City of Brooksville resident and your ballot does not have the city council race on it, contact the Supervisor of Elections Office as soon as possible: (352) 754-4125.