Sarasota County Supervisor of Elections Ron Turner will begin mailing vote-by-mail (absentee) ballots for the November 2 City of Venice General Election and Town of Longboat Referendum on Friday, September 17. A total of 154 ballots will be mailed Friday to absent military and overseas voters, including active duty military personnel, their spouses and dependents, and overseas U.S. citizens who are absent from Sarasota County, Turner said. This total includes 104 ballots to City of Venice voters and 50 to Town of Longboat Key voters outside the United States.

The initial mailing of 10,330 vote-by-mail ballots to domestic voters who have requests on file with the elections office is scheduled for Thursday, September 23. The total includes 8,458 ballots to voters in the City of Venice and 1,871 to Longboat Key voters. Following these initial mailings, ballots will be mailed daily.

A voter may request a vote-by-mail ballot in one of the following ways: online at SarasotaVotes.gov/VotebyMail; by phone to 941-861-8618; in-person at any of three elections offices in Sarasota, North Port or Venice. Requests for ballots to be mailed to a voter must be received by the elections office no later than 5 pm Saturday, October 23 to allow ample time for mailing and return of ballot. To be counted, voted ballots must be received in the supervisor of elections office no later than 7 pm on election day.  Turner reminds voters to return marked ballots early to avoid postal delays.