Nineteen municipalities in the county are getting ready for Election Day on March 9. Wendy Sartory Link, the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections, says residents are still casting votes despite the pandemic.
Link says out of 126,000 ballots that they’ve mailed out, they’ve received nearly 39,000 vote-by mail ballots.
"It's certainly a good number for a municipal election at this point," Link said. "We’re hoping that we’ll get even more. It’s hard to get people out for these municipal elections for sure."
Link says people should research candidates before they head to the polls because a few of the municipalities will have questions and referenda on the ballot — voters need to know what position they want to take.
And there are some differences between this municipal election and the November general election.
"One of the biggest differences, at least in Palm Beach County — and this isn't necessarily the case in every county — the municipality is in fact in charge of this election," Link said. "So the municipal clerk is the supervisor of their own election."
Link says her office is "only hired by them because obviously we own the equipment and we've been training poll workers."
"So it's easy for us to train the poll workers. But the municipalities are responsible for having enough poll workers. They're responsible for getting their own locations," she said. "They're the ones who are leading their canvasing boards now."
Previous COVID-19 measures, like Plexiglas shields, personal protection equipment, gloves and masks are still in effect, but Link says the pandemic is still making it difficult to keep poll workers.
"There’s just not the same level of excitement or interest for March as there was in November so it’s a little harder to keep people engaged and wanting to be poll workers," she said.
Link said there are a few polling location changes and to check the Palm Beach Supervisor of Elections website for any updates.
