Elections chief says be prepared

Clay County’s Supervisor of Elections told a Clay Chamber of Commerce group to be prepared when they vote.

Chris Chambless spoke at the chamber’s Oct. 6 lunch-and-learn event at the Courtyard Marriot on Wells Road.

The elections chief recommended that voters print out and fill in a sample ballot at home and then take the sample into the voting booth to hasten their time at the polls.

Chambless said the biggest problem with elections is that only two-thirds of registered voters cast ballots.

He added that typically, a general election produces a 66% turnout.

“However, in presidential years,” he said, add 10% to that.”

The elections chief said turnout in a primary normally drops to around 40%, and with no Republican primary for governor this year, the August primary produced a turnout of only 25% in Clay County.

The supervisor highlighted the 1992 general election as one of the most significant in local history. The ballot, headlined by the presidential race between George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Ross Perot, produced the highest turnout ever in Clay County, with over 80% of voters casting ballots.

The ballot also contained a proposed measure that would have made Clay a charter county, giving local citizens more control over county government. That measure passed.

However, Chambless stated the ballot feature that drove citizens to the polls in 1992 was the proposed Florida Constitutional amendment that placed term limits on state lawmakers. The amendment passed both locally and statewide.