VERO BEACH, Fla. — Election Day is still three weeks away, but the work for elections officials is already underway.
About two dozen staff members and 30 volunteers came to the Indian River County Supervisor of Elections on Sunday and opened all 21,000-plus mail-in ballots they had received to that point.
Those ballots were being run through the tabulation machines by precinct Monday.
No results will be known until the polls close on Election Day.
Supervisor of Elections Leslie Swan said state law allows her office to do this.
"If we did not start in advance, there's no way we could keep up," Swan said.
Swan said more than twice as many ballots have been mailed out for the 2020 election than in 2016 or 2018.
She said anyone can observe what is happening and encouraged voters to do so, if they feel comfortable enough.
"You can track the status of your ballot, the day you requested it, the day it was returned back to the elections office and the day it was tabulated," she said.
Swan said CARES Act funding has allowed her to hire extra temporary staff for the added work, but she'll have to adjust future budgets accordingly.
Similar work is taking place in St. Lucie County.
Martin County will begin processing mail-in votes about a week before Election Day.