Early voting opens Saturday in Longboat as mail ballots roll in

In-person early voting begins Saturday, but vote-by-mail ballots are already piling up.

A total of 610 mail ballots had been returned as of Thursday, town officials reported.

From the Sarasota County portion of Longboat Key, 370 mail-in ballots had been returned out of a total of 897 requested (41.2%). From Manatee County, 240 had been returned out of a total of 713 requested (33.7%).

For this election, a total of 6,301 registered voters are eligible to cast ballots.

In-person early voting begins at 8:30 a.m. for Longboat voters in Manatee and Sarasota County at Town Hall, 501 Bay Isles Road. Ballots can be cast until 4:30 p.m. for a week, ending March 17.

Election Day is March 20.

Three Town Commission races are to be decided, along with ballot measures on a new town charter; money for renovations at the town’s two fire stations and an optional 1-mill school tax in both Sarasota and Manatee counties. Sarasota's school tax is  renewal of a tax established years ago. This is the first year of such an tax campaign in Manatee County.