By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter

            Levy County voters are casting thousands of ballots early as Election Day approaches next Tuesday.

            The total number of ballots cast by late Wednesday was 6,493.

            Democrats had cast 1,801 votes, Republicans 3,856, No Party Affiliation (NPA) 734, and other categories 107.

            Mail-in ballots were favored by Republicans and Democrats.

            Supervisor of Elections Tammy Jones is predicting a 60 percent turnout after Election Day ballots are added to the mail-ins and early voting.

            Mail-in ballots must reach the Elections Office in Bronson by the close of the polls at 7 p.m. Tuesday to be counted.

            Early voting takes place in the back of the Elections Office in Bronson. People who wish to early-vote can cast ballots from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays and weekends through Nov. 6.

            Jones was present at the Supervisor of Elections Annex directly behind the Elections Office Wednesday with Canvassing Board members Desiree Mills, a county commissioner, and Tammy Boyle, a school board member.

            County Commissioner Matt Brooks and Tax Collector Michele Langford share canvassing board duties but it wasn’t their turn on Wednesday. The canvassing board functions with three members – Jones and two others.

            Mills is the newest member of the Levy County Commission. She said she was impressed by the security measures taken to protect the election results.

            “After being here and seeing all this, it’s hard to cheat,” Mills said.

            “It would be hard,” Boyle added.

            Mills said the security measures reminded her of when she worked in a bank.

            “The memories of my bank jobs – double verifying – when you go to the vault you would need two people to go,” she said.

            Jones is using Clear Audit, an independent ballot counting system, to double-check every ballot counted through the Dominion system to ensure accuracy. Clear Audit counts every ballot independently of Dominion.

            Dominion is a voting system that drew criticism, particularly from conservatives in the 2020 presidential race, but Jones said she has been using the system for more than a decade and hasn’t found any problems with it.

            Jones said voter turnout has been low around the state and it’s a bit slow in Levy County. As of Wednesday, 21 percent of the registered voters had cast ballots.

            She anticipates 30 percent of the registered voters will have cast a ballot early and that number should double by the time Election Day votes are counted.

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Enterprise Reporting by Terry Witt November 2, 2022; Posted November 2, 2022