STUART, Fla. — Early voting for the 2020 general election will begin Monday and run until Oct. 31.
"I'm very excited to vote," Martin County resident Nico Panarelli said.
In Martin County, Supervisor of Elections Vicki Davis is predicting a higher turnout for both early and mail in voting because of COVID-19.
"Maybe wait or go at an off-peak time," Davis said.
Davis said social distancing measures will be put into place to keep voters safe and that those alone will create long lines.
Inside the voting locations in Martin County, masks will not be required.
"They don't have to wear one," Davis said. "They are not mandatory. We don't want to disenfranchise voters because they're not wearing a mask."
Alcohol will be used to wipe down stations after each voter.
Panarelli said 2020 will be his first presidential election that he is eligible to vote in and that he is not worried about contracting the coronavirus at the polls.
"I know that I'm going to follow all of the guidelines, so I know that when I go vote I'll be protecting myself and other people," Panarelli said.
Davis said voters will not be able to send in a mail in ballot and also vote person.
"It's whatever we receive first," Davis said. "If a vote-by-mail ballot comes to us in the mail, when that signature is verified, they're already checked off in our system as having cast a vote."
Voters who wait until Nov. 3 to drop off mail-in ballots will have to bring them to their elections office.
Davis said other locations will not accept them because they must be in the supervisor's hands by 7 p.m.
Click here for a list of early voting locations in Palm Beach, Martin, St. Lucie, Indian River and Okeechobee counties.
