Federal dollars intended to beef up local elections security have arrived in Leon County. Elections Supervisor Mark Early says the money is being doled out by the Florida Department of state. Leon will get about $230,000. Early says one of the biggest changes before the upcoming primary will be more security.
“We are having improvements in security not only in physical security such as security guards and even sheriff’s deputies, but we’re also improving our internal security,” Early says.
Early says the county has a number of protections in place already to avoid election hacking, but he says the money from the state will allow Leon to double down and respond to new threats.
Meanwhile, voting is underway in Leon County. Mail ballots are already coming in, early voting starts next weekend, and Early says sample ballots are on the way.
"Voters should be seeing those in the mail by the end of the week or the weekend. That has a lot of information about every facet of elections,” Early says.
Early says voters can also visit the supervisor of elections website for information more specific to them, such as whether they’ve requested a vote by mail ballot.