Sarasota elections supervisor outlines operations, budget, staffing and new mail-request form

County Judge Erica Quartermaine hosted Ron Turner, Sarasota County supervisor of elections, on the televised program Law in Sarasota, where Turner described the office's operations, budget, staffing and recent legal and administrative changes affecting vote-by-mail requests.

Turner said his office has 34 permanent staff members and that in an election year it hires about 700 seasonal workers and needs roughly 1,000 poll workers for Election Day. "We have office locations in Northport, Venice, and in Sarasota," Turner said. "We have a warehouse facility that's out east ... and the county has purchased a building for us on Fruitville Road that will become our election operations center." He added that the office's budget this year is "a little more than $9 million," and that "a general election alone will typically cost around $2 million in Sarasota County." (All dollar amounts as stated by Turner.)

Why it matters: Turner's description provides a detailed look at local…