Orange County\u2019s in-person voters won\u2019t be mailed sample ballots for the upcoming primary, a shift that worries some election advocates.<\/p>\n
Primary voters can view, and then print, a sample ballot via a QR code, which was provided on a mailer sent to their homes. But, in a shift from past elections, no paper ballots will be mailed to those who didn\u2019t request mail-in ballots, said Blake Summerlin, a spokesperson for the Orange County Supervisor of Elections, in an emailed statement.<\/p>\n
The QR codes first landed in Orange mailboxes last year during the special election for Senate District 15 and House District 40, and that system has now been expanded for the Aug. 18 primary.<\/p>\n
A sample ballot also ran recently in the Orlando Sentinel, which \u2014 paired with the QR codes \u2014 serves as an appropriate substitute for\u00a0mailing them, Summerlin added.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have used a variety of sample ballot mailer formats in the past to provide voters with important election information and help them prepare for upcoming elections,\u201d Summerlin wrote. \u201cBecause each election is unique, the format and method of providing this information varies.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lake, Osceola and Seminole counties are still mailing sample ballots to voters for the primary, as they have for past elections, officials said.<\/p>\n
Orange\u2019s shift worries the League of Women Voters of Orange County.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re very concerned about it,\u201d said Kathy Schmitz, the group\u2019s co-president. \u201cIt was a bit unexpected from many voters\u2019 point of view, and we are concerned that it\u2019s going to disenfranchise people and create extra burden for those voters who are less tech-savvy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Older people might be put off by the QR codes, Schmitz said, and younger and low-income people might not have access to printers to make their own copies of sample ballots.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven those who are savvy enough to use the QR codes often like to mark their ballots and take them into the voting booth with them,\u201d she said. \u201cThe tech makes that more difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n
The advocacy group has already reached out to the supervisor of elections office about the change, she added.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019d like to see them for the general election go back to a full mailing,\u201d Schmitz said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Orange County\u2019s in-person voters won\u2019t be mailed sample ballots for the upcoming primary, a shift that worries some…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":362417,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[139,141,140,108],"class_list":["post-362416","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362416","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=362416"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362416\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/362417"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=362416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=362416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=362416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}