TAMPA, Fla. — Voters in Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco and Manatee counties will soon be getting their ballots in the mail.
- Hundreds of thousands of ballots mailed out
- Officials expecting large voter turnout
- More: Decision 2018 voting guide
All four counties have mailed out their first batch of domestic ballots.
In Manatee County, 71,528 ballots were mailed Tuesday. In Pasco County, election workers mailed out 64,000 ballots.
In Pinellas County, 258,000 ballots were mailed to voters. And In Hillsborough County, more than 200,000 vote-by-mail ballots were delivered to the post office on Tuesday morning.
Hillsborough Elections Supervisor Craig Latimer said that's an increase over past years.
He expects a big voter turnout between now and November.
"This is the general election now," Latimer said. "Everybody gets the same ballot. There's a lot of enthusiasm out there."
Hillsborough voters might not be prepared for the length of the ballot this year.
Voters in Hillsborough will get two pages to fill out, front and back.
"That's a long ballot," said voter Beth Santiago.
Latimer said it could take voters 45 minutes to go through the entire ballot if they have not studied the candidates and issues.
Voter Clarence Eng doesn't mind the length.
"If we want to see change, want to see improvements, we as individual have to commit the time towards it," said Eng.
Voters in Hernando, Citrus and Polk counties will soon get a chance to see their ballots too.
Hernando County election workers will mail more than 36,000 ballots Thursday.
On Friday, Citrus County's election workers will mail 26,931 domestic ballots.
And Polk County's Supervisor of Elections Office will mail 80,000 ballots next Tuesday, October 9.