Some Palm Harbor and Dunedin voters who showed up to cast ballots in the Aug. 18 primary found themselves redirected to unfamiliar polling places, a lingering effect of the 2024 hurricanes that forced location changes across Pinellas County.

Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections Julie Marcus said her office's call center fielded those calls throughout the day, directing voters to their new sites. She did not specify which precincts were affected.

Still, the primary went smoothly overall. And the big number: Pinellas County returned more than 100,000 mail-in ballots, more than any other county in Florida, according to the Florida Division of Elections as reported by Spectrum Bay News 9.

"Every election has to be perfect," Marcus said. "There are no mulligans in elections, it has to be right every time."

Marcus called the mail-in volume typical for Pinellas, noting the county had sent out more than 190,000 mail ballots ahead of the primary. By Aug. 7, about 50,000 had already been returned.

Pinellas led the state's big counties

Pinellas posted an early and mail-in ballot return rate of 18.54% of registered voters, the highest among Florida's large-population counties, according to Florida Phoenix election-day data. Hillsborough County came in at 15.86%, followed by Palm Beach at 13.99% and Orange at 13.84%.

Statewide, overall primary turnout landed at roughly 25%, above the under-20% figure Florida Secretary of State Cord Byrd had projected before election night, according to WGCU's post-election analysis.

Local drop-off option

The Dunedin Public Library at 223 Douglas Ave. served as a ballot drop-off site from Aug. 8 through Aug. 15, open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily except Sundays, giving mail-in voters a walk-in return option before Election Day. Pinellas County's three early voting locations in Largo, Clearwater and St. Petersburg were open through Aug. 16.

The general election is Nov. 3, with polls open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Voters can confirm their polling location at votepinellas.gov.