From Brian E. Corley Supervisor of Elections

An enhancement to our website—www.pascovotes.com Vol. 9
4th Quarter
Oct 2015
From Brian E. Corley
Supervisor of Elections
In the fourth quarter of 2015, we’re closing out the year with a Special Municipal
Election for Port Richey Mayor on October 13th. We’re simultaneously
preparing for the first quarter of 2016 for the Presidential Preference Primary
on March 15th. There is much to do for the upcoming presidential election
year, but we have many elements in place, e.g. our pollworker recruitment, our
training schedule, our training manuals and videos, our equipment and software
upgrades, our education and outreach strategy, and a newly approved budget
that reflects a nominal increase despite a presidential election year ahead of us
to include the additional election - the Presidential Preference Primary.
What is a Presidential Preference Primary? The PPP is part of the nominating
process for United States presidential elections. In these early primaries,
voters express their preference for the presidential candidate they would like
to see representing their party in the November General Election. As the first
elimination contests among the presidential candidate hopefuls, the states with
the earliest primaries are targeted heavily on the campaign trail. Although the
outcome of these primaries does not directly determine which candidates will
go on to the final race, in Florida, the PPP determines which candidate the party
delegates will be bound to vote for during the national party conventions.
Historically, the earliest primaries are more influential to the process of nominating
presidential candidates. Some states hold caucuses which differ from primaries
in that they are managed by the political parties themselves rather than the local
governments. Either way, Presidential Preference Primaries are the creation of
political parties, and were never part of our country’s constitution. The political
parties make the rules about how the party delegates are allocated throughout
the states. What’s important for Floridians to know is that the the PPP is a
closed primary . Voters can choose only among those candidates that are the
same party affiliation as their voter registration. As the debates unfold and your
opinions are being formed, take a moment to insure that your voter registration
reflects the same party as the candidate of your choice. If not, the registration
books close to party changes on February 16, 2016.
Happy Fall!
In this Edition...
What’s Happening
•
•
•
2
Veteran’s Day
Essay Contest
Community Partnering
Did you Know?
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•
3
On-line Training
2016 Election Dates
Registration
Statistics
Republican
116,828
Democrat
100,766
No Party
74,552
Minor Party
15,328
TOTAL
307,474
As of October 12, 2015
Requires Responsibility
V O T E PA S C O
Supervisor of Elections’ Offices
Dade City
(352) 521-4302
Land O’ Lakes
(813) 929-2788
New Port Richey
(727) 847-8162
What’s Happening ....
Community Partnering ...
Veteran’s Day Ceremony
On Wednesday, November 11, 2015,
we will once again partner with
Superintendent Kurt S. Browning,
Pasco County Schools, to sponsor the
districtwide Veteran’s Day Ceremony
in honor of our nation’s veterans.
The
ceremony from the River Ridge Center
for the Arts will be videotaped and made
available to all 70,000 students in 84
schools districtwide.
In addition to opening remarks by
Superintendent Browning and Supervisor
of Elections Corley, Congressman Gus
Bilirakis will be the keynote speaker. The
River Ridge ROTC will present the colors
and perform the flag folding ceremony.
The flag will be presented to a veteran
who is a Pasco County Schools alumni.
Music will be provided by River Ridge
Middle and High Schools, and the Cypress
Elementary School Chorus.
Our partnership with Pasco County Schools
is an extension of our Vote in Honor
of a Vet program and our annual high
school voter registration drive. The high
school registration drive will take place
immediately following the ceremony at
all Pasco County High Schools. Elections’
Office Ambassadors will be available to
register and/or pre-register eligible high
school students.
The River Ridge Center for the Arts
is located at 11646 Town
Center Road, New Port Richey,
and the public is invited to
attend. Learn more about the
ceremony at #pascovadayon.
Fourth Grade Essay Contest
As part of the Pasco Constitutional Officers
Essay Contest initiative, the elections’
office will be sponsoring an essay contest
for fouth grade students themed “What
Freedom Requires Responsibility Means to
Me.” The winning essay will be presented
as part of the Veteran’s Day Ceremony on
November 11th. Students are asked to
submit a 500 word essay for judging. The
three judges are: Tina Stavrou-Klem,
Senior Instructional Specialist for Social
Studies K-12, Pasco County Schools,
Susan McHugh, Cambridge Civics and U.S.
History, Pasco Middle School, and Beverly
Ledbetter, Adjunct Professor, Department
of Education, St. Leo University. The
prizes for the top three essays are: $100
Visa Gift Card, sponsored by VFW Post
6180, New Port Richey, $75 Visa Gift Card,
sponsored by Jarrett Ford, Dade City, and
$50 Visa Gift Card by Jarrett Ford.
Move the Vote Initiative
As part of our ongoing Voter Outreach
Program, we are always looking for
innovative, cost-effective ways to reach
voters with reminders about maintaining
an updated voter registration.
While new homeowners are quick to update
their address for necessary services,
things like voter registrations are often
overlooked.
With the important 2016
election cycle coming up, my office will
be partnering with Pasco County Realtor
Associations in getting out an important
reminder for new homeowners both new
to Pasco and those relocating.
Port Richey
Special Municipal Election
Did you know ....
Move the Vote (con’t) . .
As an added service, realtors
have agreed to pass along a
reminder to new homeowners
to update their voter registration
information. An informative flyer which
includes upcoming election dates and
elections’ office contact information can
easily be distributed via e-mail. Anything
we can do in advance to help voters
prepare for the upcoming election cycle
ultimately helps us to ensure smoother
election days. We appreciate the
community support of the Pasco County
Realtor Associations.
On-line Training Revamped
The on-line portion of pollworker
training covers topics such as conflict
management and disability sensitivity
training. This portion of the training is
statutorily required once each election
cycle and is in addition to the task-specific
training pollworkers receive prior to each
Election Day.
Revisions to the 2016 on-line portion
of pollworker training were necessary
to introduce the pollworkers to the new
technology and equipment upgrades and
the resultant changes in procedures.
The revisions are complete, and include
the upgrade to the EViD (Electronic Voter
Identification) units, the software
upgrade to the DS200 voting machines,
2016 Election Dates:
Presidential Preference Primary: March 15, 2016
Municipal Elections: April 12, 2016
Primary Election: August 30, 2016
General Election: November 8, 2016
Visit our website at
pascovotes.com
October 13, 2015
and the introduction of the ADA compliant
ExpressVote machines.
Our on-line training also includes an
overview of the “big picture” on Election
Day.
Pollworkers take a look at the
complete opening and closing process
of the polling place as well as how to
efficiently process voters throughout
the day. Covering these important and
required topics in an on-line format
greatly reduces the amount of class time
needed for training, thus saving money
and staff time.
The on-line training platform is completely
filmed and produced in-house by elections
staff.
Proceed
With Caution!
Special interest groups and political
organizations are already out in force for
the 2016 election cycle! If you receive
information from any source other than the
Supervisor of Elections’ Office that
suggests you may not be registered to
vote, DO NOT push the panic button until
you check with our office. The most reliable
source of information regarding your voter
registration can be found at the Division of
Elections website: http://dos.myflorida.
com/elections/for-voters/check-yourvoter-status-and-polling-place.
These
groups have also been known to target
absentee voters. If you receive confusing
information regarding your vote-by-mail
ballot, please contact our office at 800851-8754 or check the status of your voteby-mail ballot at pascovotes.com.