Sarasota County Supervisor of Elections Ron Turner will begin mailing vote-by-mail ballots for the Nov. 5 City of Venice general election to domestic voters on Sept. 26. A total of 5,177 ballots are scheduled for the initial mailing, followed by daily mailings through Monday, Oct. 28, according to Turner. Seventy-one ballots have been mailed to overseas civilian and military voters.

A voter may submit a vote-by-mail request online at sarasotavotes.com/votebymail or by calling (941) 861-8618.  Requests for ballots to be mailed domestically must be received by the elections office no later than 5 p.m. on the 10^th day before the election (in this case, October 26) to allow enough time for the ballot to reach the voter and be returned to the elections office in time to be counted. Voted ballots may be returned by mail or in person, but must be received by the supervisor of elections no later than 7 p.m. on election day.  Turner reminds voters that the signature on the vote-by-mail ballot certificate will be compared to the voter’s signature on file in the elections office for verification purposes.  Voters may update their signatures by submitting a Florida Voter Registration Application to the supervisor of elections office. The signature on file at the time the elections office receives the voted ballot will be the signature used to verify the voter’s eligibility.