by Michele Newbern Gillis
Staff Writer
Penny Halyburton, the St. Johns County supervisor of elections, spoke at the St. Augustine/St. Johns County Board of Realtor meeting last month held at the board office and urged Realtors to vote early and to get their support in the upcoming election.
That support could come in several forms. One is to come out and vote, the other, she said, would be to become a poll worker and help out during the voting process.
“We currently have about 400 poll workers, but we always need more,” she said.
She also acknowledged that being a poll worker is a great way for Realtors to network and meet the public.
Given the past problems of the voting system in St. Johns County, Halyburton said the optical scan system will be used in the 2004 election, but touch screens won’t be far into the future.
A new requirement by 2006 requires voting facilities to be able to accommodate those with disabilities and touch screens are the only kind of voting system that would accomplish that, she said.