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Hernando Today

Hernando Voter Rolls Swell

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By TONY MARRERO Hernando Today

The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 16, 2008

BROOKSVILLE - From Hawaii to Indiana to Washington, D.C., voter rolls are swelling, and now Hernando County can be added to the list.

The number of registered voters here has grown by more than 8,600 in the last year, according to an unofficial tally provided this week by the county elections office. For some perspective, that's like adding to the rolls the entire population of the city of Brooksville, plus another thousand voters or so.

The number of registered voters this week stood at 122,942 - and still counting, Supervisor of Elections Annie Williams said. The office is nearly caught up, though, and the official number of voters eligible for the Nov. 4 general election shouldn't change by more than a few hundred, Williams said. The state is expected to make county roll counts official by Monday.
Republicans still outnumber Democrats here, but the gap has been sliced in half.

As of this week, there were 1,277 more registered Republicans than Democrats. Compare that to a margin of 3,157 during the 2006 general election.

The county has more of the kinds of voters who typically play an important role in any election, especially presidential: There are some 1,700 more independent and minor party voters than a year ago.

Williams said voters in recent weeks have been lining up in her office in numbers she hasn't seen before to turn in their registration forms. As well, the state elections office faced such a wave of forms that some were sent to counties - including Hernando - for processing.

Williams credits the multitude of efforts to get voters on the rolls, including the two major parties and the campaigns of their respective presidential candidates.

After a dismally low turnout for the primary this year, there seems to be more interest for the general election races, "from the president all the way down to the city (council)," Williams said.

"I really think it's great people are taking an active part and hope they go a step farther and go to the polls and vote," Williams said.

There is a strong interest in absentee ballots this year. The elections office mailed out 19,037 absentee ballots and as of Wednesday had received 7,419, Williams said.

Two weeks of early voting begins Monday, Oct. 20, and ends Saturday, Nov. 1. Voting is available from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at both the Brooksville and Spring Hill elections offices. The offices are closed Sunday.

The Brooksville office is in on the first floor of the County Government Center, 20 N. Main St. The Spring Hill office is at 7443 Forest Oaks Blvd.

For more information, call the elections office at 754-4125.

Reporter Tony Marrero can be reached at 352-544-5286 or lmarrero@hernandotoday.com.

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