Early voting opens Wednesday in Bay County for August 23rd Primary Election

PANAMA CITY, Fla. (WJHG/WECP) - Over the next few weeks, voters across the state will hit the polls for early voting in the upcoming primary election. For Bay County voters, that starts on Wednesday, august 10th.

Voters will see a handful of local and state offices on the ballot for reelection.

“If you can go do your early voting or vote by mail its really the best way and the quickest way to get your ballots in,” Mark Andersen, Bay County Supervisor of Elections said. “I would also encourage you to early-vote early. I really would encourage you to get everything done before election day because election day is your last opportunity to cast your ballot.”

Early voting can help you avoid stress and headaches on election day, and it can also be more convenient.

“We have eight sites, and you can go to any one of those during early voting you don’t have to go to one specific one,” said Andersen.

On election day, voters must go to the site specifically assigned to them.

“We’ve got different polling locations based on redistricting. If you got sent the ballot for you specifically, it has your polling location on it,” Andersen said.

So far, tens of thousands of voters across Florida have mailed in a ballot. If you plan to mail-in your ballot -- officials say do it as soon as possible

“As I’m talking to you right now you should finish that vote by mail ballot and get it in if that’s what you need to do. or, wait a day here and you can go and do early voting,” said Andersen.

You must be registered to vote in order to participate in the primaries, but it’s not too late to register for the upcoming general election on November 8th. If you have any questions about early voting or where you must go to vote on election day, you can find more information at BayVotes.org.

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