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Supervisor of Elections tells Sebastian voters to renew vote-by-mail requests after 12/31/2024 expiration
Summary
Leslie Swan, Supervisor of Elections, briefed the Sebastian City Council on state changes to vote-by-mail rules and outreach efforts. Residents whose vote-by-mail requests expired must reapply; staff described online, phone, and paper options and an outreach campaign reaching tens of thousands of prior requestors.
Leslie Swan, Supervisor of Elections for Indian River County, told the Sebastian City Council that changes made by the state legislature require voters to renew vote-by-mail requests more frequently and that all existing requests expired on Dec. 31, 2024.
Swan said the prior practice allowed a mail-ballot request to remain valid for two general elections or four years, but recent statutory changes now require renewal after each general election. "As of 12/31/2024, all vote by mail ballot request expires," Swan said, and she explained how residents can renew for a single election or for all elections through the end of 2026.
Swan described the options for renewing: use the county elections website (voteindianriver.gov), call the Supervisor of Elections office, email or fax a completed state form, deliver it in person, or mail it by U.S. Postal Service. She noted a ballot must be requested by the voter, a designated immediate family member, or the voter's legal guardian and that the request must include either a Florida driver's license/ID number or the last four digits of the voter's Social Security number to allow staff to verify the voter registration record. Swan also said ballots are mailed roughly 40 days before an election and that voters away from their Sebastian residence on mailing day can request ballots be sent to another address anywhere in the world, but the request must be in writing.
Swan outlined outreach the office has already done: emails and phone calls to prior request holders (roughly 28,000 prior requests) and a second round of calls in June to residents of Fellsmeer, Sebastian and Vero Beach for upcoming elections. She said roughly 53% of Sebastian residents had renewed their vote-by-mail requests by the time of her presentation and that the office includes a vote-by-mail request form with voter information cards when residents register or update their voter records.
The Supervisor encouraged residents who want to continue receiving mailed ballots to submit their requests promptly and offered assistance via the office website and phone.
