ORANGE COUNTY – Early voting started August 5th at 22 locations across Orange County, with the county’s two newest early voting sites welcoming voters just after nine o’clock.
The two new sites are the Heart of West Lakes Wellness Center (710 S Tampa Ave, Orlando, FL 32805) and the Town of Eatonville Town Hall (307 E. Kennedy Blvd. Eatonville, FL 32751).
“We are thrilled to be a part of this story,” said Mark Shamley, Vice President of Community Impact for Lift Orlando. “Glen and I had this conversation here in this building and said, ‘Hey can we do this’ and said yeah this is important to our residents, so we are thrilled to call ourselves an early voting site and serve the residents of West Lakes, Washington Shores, Lake Mann, and also Johnson Village.”
“It’s important that we have access,” said City of Orlando Commissioner Shan Rose. “If we want to increase the numbers in the Black community we have got to come out and we have got to have somewhere that has easy access.”
With Orange County now home to more than 813,000 registered voters, the Supervisor of Elections Office has been working to expand access in areas that have been traditionally underserved while also maximizing the number of days for early voting.
“Glen I would like to thank you and your staff for the outstanding job you have done in opening up more early voting sites,” said former chief judge of Florida’s Ninth Judicial Circuit Belvin Perry. “It is important if we are going to uphold this democracy that every one of our citizens vote every time.”
Each of Orange County’s 22 early voting sites also has a secure ballot intake station where voters can safely drop off their vote-by-mail ballot.
“Polls will be open from 9 AM to 7 PM every day between now and Saturday, August 18 at all 22 of our early voting sites,” said Orange County Supervisor of Elections Glen Gilzean. “While we are moving forward with early voting, we are also working with Orange County to monitor the storm and ensure that everyone from our poll workers to our law enforcement partners to voters remains safe.”
For a full list of locations: https://www.ocfelections.gov/early-voting
