Levy County Supervisor of Elections Tammy Jones (foreground) and fellow Canvassing Board members, County Commissioner Lilly Rooks, County Commission Chairman Matt Brooks and County Judge James T. Browning review and count absentee (mail-in) ballots.
By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter
The Levy County Courthouse front doors were locked Wednesday around 6 p.m. as they generally are at that time of the day, but inside the darkened building the Levy County Canvassing Board was busy counting 5,648 absentee ballots in a lighted room not visible from the outside.
Canvassing board meetings are supposed to be open to the public and this meeting was observed by Democrats for most of the day, but when the counting lasted longer than expected and the Democrats and courthouse deputies left for the day, the canvassing board was alone in the former county commission meeting room. The courthouse looked deserted from the street.
When a reporter found the doors locked and knocked on the door around 6 p.m., there was no answer. The reporter knew the canvassing board was meeting in the courthouse and walked back to the elections office to notify Assistant Supervisor of Elections Jordan Lindsey. She phoned her boss, Supervisor of Elections Tammy Jones, who opened the courthouse doors for the reporter.
“We weren’t expecting to work past 5,” Jones explained. “We had a party present all day (Democrats). I did tell them to call me if they needed to get back in the building.”
The Canvassing Board typically meets in the large room at the back of the elections office but the room is being used for early voting and isn’t available.
Sheriff Bobby McCallum, when called for comment said he knew nothing about the situation but said if his courthouse security chief, Deputy Todd Polo, had been notified that the canvassing board would go beyond 5 p.m. Polo would have made arrangements for a deputy to remain in the building for security purposes or just to let people go in and out.
“It didn’t cross my mind that they were meeting tonight, but if the clerk’s office or somebody doesn’t tell us there’s a meeting going on, we’re not going to be there and make arrangements for it,” McCallum said. “It’s probably one of those things that was overlooked and we weren’t aware of. Obviously, if we were asked to do it we would.”
The canvassing board consists of County Judge James T. Browning, the chairman, along with County Commission Chairman Matt Brooks and County Commissioner Lilly Rooks. Jones takes part in every canvassing board meeting. She makes a paper copy of each absentee ballot for her records and there is also a digital record of each ballot.
The challenge for the board Wednesday was the record number of absentees. They were tasked with counting 5,648 paper ballots. Jones said the process is time-consuming to unpack the ballots, copy each one, give them to the canvassing board to let them review each ballot, and run them through a machine counter. Early voting ballots are automatically machine counted when voters push the paper ballots into the slot. There have been 2,045 early voters thus far, also a record. Jones estimated more people may have early-voted in the first three days of voting this week than have voted in any previous election during the entire early-voting period. She would have to check her records to compare numbers to make sure she is correct.
For the record, absentee ballots are the same thing as mail-in ballots. Voters request a ballot, fill it out and either mail it to the elections office or deliver it to the elections office on Court Street in Bronson or to the Williston or Chiefland libraries. Both libraries have places where absentees can be inserted in boxes during election office hours. Absentees that arrive after 7 p.m. on Election Day won’t be counted.
Early voting at the elections office will take place every Monday through Sunday, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., through Nov. 1. Expect to wait in line.
The canvassing board will meet next Wednesday, on the Monday before the election, on the day of the election, and on the Thursday after the election.
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Enterprise Reporting by Terry Witt October 21, 2020; Posted October 21, 2020
