Southwest Florida counties mail ballots ahead of primary election

NAPLES, Fla. (WINK)—Election season is heating up. Counties across Southwest Florida mailed ballots on Thursday ahead of statewide primaries in August.

The Collier County supervisor of elections office said it mailed almost 35,000 ballots to voters on Thursday. Hendry County and Charlotte County mailed ballots on Thursday too. 

"One of the beautiful things about a vote-by-mail ballot is you can have the luxury of going home, filling out your ballot, taking your time researching the candidates," said Trish Roberston, director of communications for the supervisor of elections. 

Counties already mailed overseas and military ballots on July 2. Florida News Service reports that 248 mail ballots were returned in 35 county elections offices, according to numbers posted by the Florida Division of Elections.

On Thursday, election offices started mailing ballots for domestic voters. 

Roberston said the office collects requests and forwards the information to a vendor in central Florida. The vendor prints ballots and delivers them to the United States Postal Service. 

Lee County will mail domestic ballots next Tuesday, according to Gaby Aguirre, director of communications for the Lee County Elections Office. 

Mailing the ballots wasn't hard, Robertson said. But re-districting presented a challenge. In May, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed off a new congressional map after lawmakers eliminated several Democratic-leaning seats. 

Some voters are already looking ahead to November, while others say the August primary hasn't fully entered their minds yet. Gino Donofrio said the election is on his radar but hasn't become a priority.

Roberston said a significant number of Collier County voters were moved from Congressional District 19 into Congressional District 22. 

The 22nd district didn't previously cover Collier County. It now stretches across the state into Broward and Palm Beach County.

"It was a lot," Robertson said. "Sending out the ballots wasn't hard, but you know, the education campaign that went behind it. We had to send over 170,000 voter information cards."

"It's entering our mind, but we really haven't fully concentrated on it," Donofrio said.

Trish Robertson, communications director for the Collier County elections office, said election season feels like it started immediately after the 2024 election ended. The office faced challenges educating voters after Florida lawmakers approved new congressional maps that shuffled voters into different districts.

"We had to send over 170,000 voter information cards," Robertson said.

Hank Rome, who worked at an elections office in Long Island, already requested his absentee ballot. He said voting is crucial during this time in the country.

"It's an interesting time in our country, and I think it's important that everybody vote," Rome said.

Ernest Villatore agreed voting is important but expressed concern about the current political atmosphere.

"It's antagonistic, you know, the Democrats and Republicans hate each other," Villatore said.

Cape Coral police arrested a 58-year-old man for ripping up multiple campaign signs belonging to Cape Coral Mayor John Gunter. Despite partisan tensions, voters emphasized the importance of participating in elections.

"It's important that we have leaders in our country who you feel comfortable with, and the only way to get that is by voting," Rome said.

Collier County will start counting votes after testing the systems and receiving approval from the canvassing board.