PASCO COUNTY, Fla. — Saturday is the first day of early voting in several Bay Area counties.
The printing of ballots on demand was delayed at the West Pasco Government Center, but the Chief Administrative Officer said it’s still a convenient way to vote.
Early voters took full advantage of their options to vote at 11 other polling sites. An opportunity that is not available on Primary election day.
The Pasco County Elections office mailed out 130,000 vote-by-mail ballots.
The Chief Administrative Officer Tiffannie Alligood says her office only got 30,000 ballots back, which tells her that early voter turnout will be low.
#NOW An issue with printing On-Demand Ballots at the West Pasco Gov. Center has delayed early voting at this location. The Pasco County Elections Chief Admin. Officer says this is the only polling site experiencing issues. A tech is on site to fix it. @BN9 pic.twitter.com/zueyYNyCzT
— Fadia Mayté Patterson, M.S. (@FadiaTVNews) August 13, 2022
Yet for weeks her office has prepared to welcome voters who do plan to show up in person.
“We still have the same equipment that the voters will feed their ballots into, the DS200’s. We have the ADA compliant machines called Express Votes for ADA voters or anyone who decides to use the touch screens instead. At Early Voting we do what’s called Ballot on Demand so we don’t produce a ballot until a voter is processed and then it prints the specific ballot for each voter so that they get the right ballot to vote when they come in.”
A glitch with printing those ballots stalled voters like Gary and Sukeyna Seviertson who opted to leave until things were sorted out.
“I couldn’t stand too long. My knee hurt so I’ll come back later,” said Seviertson.
Other voters left to go to other polling locations.
Veteran Michael Bartnett was the first voter in line.
“It’s been all right with me. I’m done voting. I don’t have to come back on the 23rd,” said Bartnett.
The Pasco County Elections Office says a technician was sent right away to that location to fix the issue.
Bartnett says the minor inconvenience didn’t turn him away from his goal. He waited patiently for the opportunity to vote.
“It’s a constitutional right,” he said. “Plain and simple, I got the right to vote and I’m gonna vote,” he said.
A photo I.D. is required to vote.
To help voters with wait times and polling locations, the Pasco County Elections launched the website pascovotes.gov.
