Voting begins: Ballots are in the mail for August primaries and nonpartisan elections

Democratic and Republican primaries, and a slew of nonpartisan elections, are more than five weeks away, but South Florida voters can begin casting their ballots.

Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Wendy Sartory Link’s office said they put 159,459 ballots in the mail on Friday, which means some of the county’s voters will begin receiving them on Saturday.

Broward Supervisor of Elections Joe Scott said more than 200,000 ballots would go in the mail on Tuesday. Scott, in an interview Friday with the South Florida Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, said the ballots are going out a little later than usual because the bulk of his office operations moved to a new, more secure location designed for election operations.

The planned Tuesday mailing is still within the window required by Florida law.  Under state law, the first day supervisors of elections offices could send the initial batch of mail ballots was July 11. The last day for the first wave of mail ballots to go out is July 18.