With the late afternoon sun beating down on the elections office in Bronson, there were no early voters in sight at the elections office in Bronson Friday. Volunteer Brian Dunn said 90 percent of the voters entering the election office were wearing masks. He said most of the other 10 percent accepted masks when offered one.

By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter

            Early voting ends on Saturday in Levy County and it looks like mail-in ballots are the favorite way to cast votes this year, at least in the primary.

            Election Day is Tuesday.

            The elections office in Bronson received 3,918 mail-in ballots as of Friday compared to 3,290 total mail-in ballots received in the 2018 primary.

            Early voting is lagging behind the 2018 election, with 893 ballots cast thus far compared to 1,146 total ballots cast two years ago. The pace of early voting at the elections office in Bronson often picks up on the final two days

            After tomorrow, when early voting ends, voters must cast ballots at their assigned precinct on Election Day, or their mail-in ballot must reach the elections office by 7 p.m. on Election Day.

            Supervisor of Elections Tammy Jones is encouraging mail-in voters who haven’t placed their ballot in the mail to use the slot on the front door of the elections office instead. Voters can slide their mail-in ballots into the slot until 7 p.m. on Elections Day.

            The primary election is important.

            In the school superintendent’s race, Republican voters will choose School Board member Chris Cowart or incumbent Superintendent Jeff Edison to face Jerry Lawrence in the general election on Nov. 3. Lawrence has no party affiliation.

            The tax collector’s race will be decided on Tuesday. Republican Michele Langford, who administers the property tax division of the tax collector’s office and heads the overall tax division, is running against Republican Sabrina Sheppard, branch manager of the Chiefland tax collector’s office.

            The District 2 school board race will be decided Tuesday. Darby Allen, former principal of Cedar Key School and current director of elementary education in Gilchrist County, is facing Tammy Boyle who manages her family’s mobile diagnostic ultrasound business and is a longtime parent volunteer in Levy County schools.

            Voters will cast a ballot in the District 5 state senate race for either Jennifer Bradley, a businesswoman and wife of Sen. Rob Bradley, or Jason Holifield, a Dixie County cattleman to represent Levy County in the legislature. Sen. Rob Bradley is term-limited.

            In the race for the State Rep. Dist. 22 seat, Joe Harding and Russ Randall are battling for the right to represent Levy County in the legislature. The seat is being vacated by Charlie Stone of Ocala who is term-limited.

            For those interested in voting by mail-in ballot in the general election, Jones won’t be sending out the mail-in ballots until September 24. The Nov. 3 ballot will include six proposed amendments to the state constitution as well as congressional races and the presidential race.

            Jones said she will be interested to see whether the COVID-19 virus will affect the general election.

            “We’re probably going to have a high non-return rate (for mail-ins) in the primary. The general will be a very high return rate,” Jones said. “The return rate in the primary is not always as much. If you don’t know the local races it may deter them from voting. That’s what I heard people say.”

            Jones said it has been difficult for local candidates to reach out to voters. There have been fewer “meet and greets” for people to get to know the candidates.

            “So it’s hard for people to know how to vote when they haven’t had as many meet and greets to get the word out,” she said.

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Enterprise Reporting by Terry Witt August 14, 2020; Posted August 14, 2020