Elections supervisor addresses security concerns and new appointment voting program

Ahead of voters hitting the polls in August, Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Wendy Sartory Link met with commissioners on Tuesday, attempting to assuage the public of any potential ballot-counting concerns and reiterating they have “safe and secure elections.”

Link, who was appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2019 and won re-election in 2020, is preparing for her second major test as the county’s top elections official after overseeing the presidential race in 2020.

“We have a very high caliber of elections professionals in our office and they’re very dedicated to having safe and secure elections,” Link said. “Florida elections, and Palm Beach County in particular, have received bipartisan support for our timely, efficient and accurate execution of the elections — not only from the governor but also from then-President Trump, specifically talking about Palm Beach County.”

This year’s Primary Election will be Aug. 23, with Early Voting running from Aug. 8 through Aug. 21.

During Tuesday’s commission meeting, Link addressed two frequent issues she said have been brought to her office: the request for hand-counting ballots and livestreaming the counting of ballots on Election Night.

Link said hand-counting ballots is not feasible because “there’s really no way to do so accurately and in a timely manner.”

“That would take us months to produce elections result, and there is not a county in the state who is doing hand-counting of ballots,” she added.

On the issue of livestreaming, Link said her office has reviewed it in the past and “has come to the same conclusion” that it isn’t an option.

“This is a combination of state election law, federal compliance requirements, our discussions with the other supervisors of elections as to what is the best practice, budgetary concerns and our goal of making sure accurate election information is what’s being translated,” Link said.

Following her presentation, the public was given 10 minutes to address Link and the County Commission regarding election items. Most of the comments centered around the issues of livestreaming and ballot counting. Link said most of their complaints fall outside of her purview as the county’s elections supervisor.

“So many of the comments — they don’t like the law,” Link said. “I don’t have the discretion whether to enforce the laws that exist.

“If people don’t like the law ... if they want additional time for counting, that’s something to take up with the Legislature. It’s not something no matter how many times they come to us, I can’t change that, so we have to follow the law as it exists today.”

Aside from security issues, Link said Palm Beach County will be implementing a new pilot program that will allow voters to schedule an appointment to vote during the Early Voting period.

“As you know, some of our locations had two-, threehour waits the entire time during the 2020 Election, so we’re trying to [do this] especially with the heat and rain and things like that,” Link said, adding that people will still be able to wait in line and vote.

“We’re going to try it during the primary and see how it goes. If it’s successful, we’ll use it in the General [Election].”

AMY BETH BENNETT/SOUTH FLORIDA SUN SENTINEL County Supervisor of Elections Wendy Sartory Link was appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2019 and won re-election in 2020.