Fewer Hillsborough County residents voted this year compared to 2018 midterms, officials say
TAMPA, Fla. - Voters across Florida had their voices heard during the 2022 midterms, but in Hillsborough County, the supervisor of elections said turnout was down compared to the 2018 midterms.
As of early Tuesday evening, most Tampa Bay counties reported between 50-60% of registered voters cast ballots in the midterm elections, and about 20-30% of those were cast in-person Tuesday. Hillsborough Supervisor of Elections Craig Latimer said that's on par with most midterm elections, but slightly down compared to 2018 when turnout was at about 60%.
Latimer also said voters should know that their votes are safe and that it's virtually impossible to hack into a tabulating machine.
"Number one, we vote on paper," he explained. "You can't hack paper. Number two, and this is nationwide today. We've got over 10,000 jurisdictions in this country that are conducting elections and none of them are connected to each other at all. I'm not connected to any surrounding counties. By law, my election management software server is not connected to the Internet or the intranet."
Latimer said Florida election laws have helped the state become one of the smoothest in the country on Election Day.
"We begin processing counting those vote-by-mail ballots 22 days before the election," said Latimer. "Pennsylvania had to start this morning. I've got 190,000 vote-by-mail ballots in just this election. I couldn't imagine starting this morning to count that. I guarantee you we wouldn't have the result for days."
Meanwhile, poll watchers were on hand at several polling sites. They are people who are selected by candidates and approved by Supervisors of Elections. There are there to observe, but not interact with or intimidate voters.
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Latimer told FOX 13 voters should be confident the elections process is safe and secure and their votes will be counted and audited.
"I use an electronic audit system. I'm only required to put 20 percent of the precinct ballots through. I do 100 percent of the ballots to ensure that my tabulators counted correctly," he said, adding there is no reason to worry about potential hacking in Florida or likely anywhere else in the U.S.