One of our goals here at Orlando Community News is to keep our readers abreast of what’s going on during the election season. In Central Florida, there are elections throughout the year  – early (many city elections), summertime (many primaries, county and statewide elections) and fall (general, congressional and presidential elections).

In between and around the same times are Special Elections – you know, if an elected officials resigns or has to leave office and/or Special Referendum/Amendment Elections.

The goal is for you to beware of what’s going on in your community, whom to call or hold accountable for important issues, the best way to engage your representatives and main thing: Vote During Every Election In Which You Are Eligible.  Your vote is your voice. 

Why complain or comment about anything going on in your neighborhood, city, county, state and our country, if you don’t take the time and/or care enough to research the public officials / candidates and issues, register (or update your registration if need be) and then actually vote? 

Here’s some updates on what’s going on locally:

• If you live in the City of Apopka, you have the opportunity to vote in the Run-Off election on Tuesday, April 12. You can vote by absentee ballot, vote early (starting on Monday, April 4 and ending on Friday, April 8) or vote on election day, April 12 at the Apopka Community Center, 519 S. Central Avenue. Two city council seats (3 & 4)  are up for grabs as no candidate got a majority of the votes in the March city election. Contact the city clerk if you have any questions or concerns: (407) 703-1704.
• Next: The Primary Election on August 30 for county, state and national public offices. The deadline for new registration is 29 days before the election. Please, don’t wait until the last minute; you may forget. Same thing if you want to CHANGE YOUR PARTY AFFILIATION. Florida is a closed primary state, meaning you can vote in primary elections based on the political party for which you are registered…Republican, Democrat, Independent, etc. If you do not choose a political party you will be registered with NO PARTY affiliation and will not be able to vote if there are several primaries going on, such as now. Of course, if there are referendums or general issuers on your ballot, you can vote on those. (By the way, as of today, April 1, there are almost 200,000 of you all who have not selected a party affiliation, according to the elections office.) Those who are already registered voters: If you have moved, changed your name, etc, update your information. Trying to resolve issues like these at the polling place is not a good idea. Save yourself some time and headache by taking care everything with the supervisor of elections office beforehand.

Source of most of this information: Orange County Supervisor of Elections Office. Call or visit the website: (407) 836-2070. http://www.ocfelections.com.

Contact: orlandocommunitynews@gmail.com

© Orlando Community News, 2016