Voting by Mail in 2022: Just the Facts

Here’s what you need to know if you want to vote by mail in Pinellas County in 2022. 

Request your mail ballot.

You can request a mail ballot by calling the Supervisor of Elections office at (727) 464-8683 or completing the online request form. You will have to provide a Florida driver’s license number, a Florida ID card number, or the last 4 digits of your Social Security Number. 

You can request a mail ballot any time before Election Day, but if you request it within 10 days of Election Day you will have to go down to one of the Supervisor of Elections offices and pick it up in person.

Not sure if you already have an active mail ballot request? You can check here.

Receive your mail ballot.

Mail ballots are mailed to voters 33-40 days before the election (or within a few days of when you request it, if you request it within a month of Election Day). You can also choose to pick your mail ballot up from the Supervisor of Elections office. If your ballot is lost in the mail, or damaged, or you make a mistake, you can call the Supervisor of Elections office at (727) 464-8683 and get a new one. 

Return your mail ballot.

After you fill out your mail ballot, put it in the secrecy sleeve and then put it in the return envelope that came with it. Make sure you sign your mail ballot envelope. This is really important. Missing signatures are one of the main reasons that mail ballots get rejected. We strongly recommend that you write your phone number and/or email address on the envelope as well. That way, the Supervisor of Elections can easily contact you if there is any problem with your signature.

Your mail ballot must reach the Supervisor of Elections office by 7:00pm on Election Day.

Late ballots won’t be counted. There are a few different ways to get it in on time: 

  • You can mail your ballot. Be sure to mail it at least 2 weeks before Election Day so that it arrives on time. A postmark date is not enough.
  • You can drop off your ballot at any one of the three Supervisor of Elections offices any time during opening hours, before or even on Election Day. You can find hours and locations HERE. All three offices are open from 7:00am to 7:00pm on Election Day.
  • You can drop your ballot off in an official, secure drop box. For the August primary and the November general elections, there may be an official drop box within a few miles of your home. Check www.VotePinellas.com for hours and locations. (There are no extra drop boxes for the March municipal elections.)
  • You can ask an immediate family member or someone else who you trust to drop off your ballot for you. However, please note that a voter may only deliver ballots for immediate family members and ballots for maximum two other voters per election. 

Track your ballot.

It is important to Track Your Mail Ballot online to make sure it arrived on time and there are no problems. If there is a problem, call the Supervisor of Elections office immediately at 727-464-8683 to find out how to fix it! 

One last thing!

Avoid this common mistake. You can’t just drop off your completed mail ballot at your regular polling place on Election Day. But don’t worry, you can still vote! You will just have to exchange your mail ballot for an in-person ballot and then fill out the in-person ballot instead.

And remember, if you face any problems with requesting your mail ballot or voting by mail, you can call the nationwide, nonpartisan Election Protection Hotline at 866-OUR-VOTE!

February 10, 2022 @ 7:00 pm 8:30 pm

The League of Women Voters of the St. Petersburg Area Social Justice Team is proud to host Dr. Ruthmae Sears and her study committee members as they present the findings of the St. Petersburg Structural Racism Study for participants. Register now!

St. Petersburg summary: Over a three year period, 2015-17 data on violent crime reveals:

  • 55% of criminal homicides involved a firearm
  • 2% of sex offenses involved a firearm
  • 36% of robberies involved a firearm
  • 29% of aggravated assaults involved a firearm
  • ** 29% of all violent crimes involved a firearm

Pinellas County summary: Over a 22 year period, 1996-2017 data on violent crime reveals:

  • 55% of murders involved a firearm, a pattern that trended upward during the period
  • 12% of manslaughters involved a firearm; pattern trended downward during a period
  • 1% of forcible sex crimes involved a firearm
  • 32% of robberies involved a firearm
  • 16% of aggravated assaults involved a firearm; pattern trended upward during a period

St. Petersburg Data: 2015-17       

  2015 2016 2017 Annual totals/average % of category
Criminal homicide 17 28 24 69/23
Firearm involved 10 15 13 38/13 55%
Sex offenses 185 122 136 443/148
Firearm involved 3 1 4 8/2.7 2%
Robbery 573 556 499 1628/543
Firearm involved 182 212 195 589/196 36%
Aggravated assault 1126 1029 1187 3342/1114
Firearm involved 329 308 337 974/325 29%
Total violent crimes 1898 1727 1846 5471/1824
Firearm involved 524 535 549 1608/536 29%

Sources:

  1. FL Dept. of Law Enforcement, FL Uniform Crime Reports 2015-17, provided by St. Petersburg Police Department
  2. Centers for Disease Control data by county
    https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/states/florida/florida.htm
  3. Centers for Disease Control, Firearm Mortality Data https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/sosmap/firearm_mortality/firearm.htm
  4. FL Dept. of Law Enforcement, Crime Data by Jurisdiction 1996-2017
    http://www.fdle.state.fl.us/FSAC/Data-Statistics/UCR-Offense-Data.aspx
  5. FL Dept. of Law Enforcement Uniform Crime Statistics, Domestic Violence
    http://www.fdle.state.fl.us/FSAC/Data-Statistics/UCR-Domestic-Violence

Best Practices in Preventing Gun Violence

We believe that gun violence is a public health crisis and that we must figure out ways to live with guns while 1) employing measures to make them safer and 2) keeping them out of the hands of those who may cause harm to themselves or others.  We’ve examined a few of the programs which seek to address these issues at the local level.

The program most successful in reducing violent crime and gang violence:

Group Violence Intervention, aka Ceasefire

Goal:  To reduce violent crime and gang violence through a strategy of prevention, intervention and suppression.
History:  First demonstrated as Operation Ceasefire in Boston in 1996.  The original strategy was sponsored by the National Institute of Justice and co-directed by David M. Kennedy, Anthony Braga and Anne M. Piehl of Harvard University.  The program is now affiliated with the National Network for Safe Communities and has been implemented nationally in over 30 cities.  Different cities call the program by different titles.

Facts You Should Know:
Core Elements of Program:  GVI has repeatedly demonstrated that violence can be dramatically reduced when a partnership of community members, law enforcement and social service providers directly engages with the small and active number of people involved in street groups and clearly communicates a credible moral message against violence, prior notice about the consequences of further violence, and a genuine offer of help for those who want it.  Research on the GVI method has found a profound connection between serious violence and highly active criminal groups.  A typical city-level finding is that groups representing under 0.5% of the city’s population will be connected as offenders, victims or both in 50-75% of all homicides in the city.

  1. “Call-ins” are a central method of communication. They create an opportunity for offenders serving probation and parole sentences for violent crimes and currently involved with gangs/groups to meet resource partners and law enforcement officers face to face.  Offenders attend call-ins by “invitation only.”  If you get an invitation it means you and your group are already on local, state & federal radars.
  2. “Pulling Levers:” Each participant is warned that from this point forward, she/he is targeted for vigorous prosecution if the violence does not stop. Those who participate/cooperate are offered incentives such as assistance with job training, housing, childcare, relocation, getting driver’s license, help clearing warrants, mentoring, etc. depending on the resources of the city.
  3. It is vital that those who participate/cooperate are connected with assistance promised.  The program seeks to reduce recidivism and future arrests.

Evaluations:
* The majority of cities participating in GVI programs reported reductions in homicides and shootings.  In Boston, the city that developed Ceasefire, the average monthly number of youth homicides dropped by 63 percent in the two years after it was launched.  In Pittsburgh, homicides hit a 12 year low in 2017.  In Newburgh NY, shootings went from 55 victims in 2015 to 17 in 2017.  Oakland CA began the program in 2012 with 126 murders; in 2017 the total was 74.  New Haven CT went from 13 homicides in 2016 to 7 in 2017.  Law enforcement officials credit GVI strategy for the declines.
* A Campbell Collaboration systematic review of focused deterrence strategies known as “pulling levers” found a statistically significant positive effect on reducing crime.  Group/ gang intervention programs had the largest effect.
* The National Institute of Justice’s Crime Solutions website gives the program its highest evidence rating, one of few programs which received the designation.  Details at www.crimesolutions.gov

For More Information:  

  1. National Network for Safe Communities, “Group Violence Intervention,” https://nnscommunities.org/our-work/strategy/group-violence-intervention
  2. Lois Beckett, “How the Gun Control Debate Ignores Black Lives,” Pro Publica, Nov. 24 2015.  https://www.propublica.org/article/how-the-gun-control-debate-ignores-black-lives
  3. Anthony Braga and David Weisburd, “The effects of ‘pulling levers’ focused deterrence strategies on crime,” Campbell Collaboration, March 4 2012.  https://www.campbellcollaboration.org/library/pulling-levers-focused-deterrence-strategies-effects-on-crime.html

Programs which complement GVI:
Becoming a Man

The Youth Guidance organization creates and implements school-based programs to help youth overcome obstacles, focus on education, and succeed in life.

  • The program was originated in 1969 in Chicago schools, focusing on young men in disadvantaged communities. The programs are based on weekly group sessions, individual and family counseling, and linkage to services. There is also a component for workforce development and job readiness, including job placement, high school support, and college prep.
  • In 2017, the program was implemented in Boston.
  • There is also a program for young women: WOW (Working on Womanhood.)

Evaluation:  A study by the University of Chicago Urban Lab covering the period from 2013-2015 showed a 50% reduction in violent crime arrests, a 35% reduction in total arrests, and increased on-time high school graduation of 19% in areas where the program operates.

For more information: 

  1. Youth Guidance, “Becoming A Man,” www.youthguidance.org/bam/
  2. Reducing Violence and Increasing Graduation, University of Chicago Urban Lab https://urbanlabs.uchicago.edu/projects/becoming-a-man

Cure Violence, a public health model

The program operates on the premise that like an infectious disease, violence is better understood and more successfully treated as an epidemic. Violence is treated using methods and strategies associated with disease control.  Methods include:  deleting and interrupting transmission/conflicts, identifying and treating high-risk individuals to reduce disease/violence, and changing community & social mores.

  • To Interrupt Transmission – The program utilizes outreach workers who are highly trained, live in the community, are known to high-risk people, and are culturally appropriate, similar to indigenous workers used in the public health model. They are trained to detect potential shooting events, mediate conflicts, and keep safe in dangerous situations.
  • Identifying and Changing the Thinking of Highest Risk Potential Transmitters – They act as mentors and provide multiple weekly counseling sessions and social services regarding drug abuse, housing, employment assistance, as well as providing conflict resolution when there has been a shooting, visiting shooting victims at hospitals to begin the process and avoid escalation.
  • Changing Social Mores – They utilize public education, community events, responses to shootings, and community mobilization to change group and community norms related to the use of firearms. They educate on health elements such as: the neurological effects of violence, public health intervention, socio-behavioral science, and violence as a contagion (example:  intergenerational transmission).
  • Coordination with law enforcement –Foster understanding that the program and law enforcement are both working on the same issue, primarily interested in reducing violence, focused as working with the community and relying on data to guide implementation.
  • The program operates in several cities including Philadelphia, New York City, Baltimore, and Chicago.

Evaluations:
There have been numerous independent studies of Cure Violence programs documenting the results of the programs.  For example:  The John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City research and evaluation of Cure Violence, NYC in 2017 showed there was a 30% reduction in shootings compared to previous years, a 37-50% reduction in gun injuries in two of the communities participating, and a 63% reduction in one other community.  There was also an 18% reduction in killings across 13 Cure Violence sites.
For information on other studies, visit http://cureviolence.org/results/scientific-evaluations/

Gun safety campaigns:
Safe Firearm Storage – Best Practices

We have a problem:
A 2016 survey by Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health concluded that 54% of gun owners do not practice safe storage.  1/3 of handguns are kept loaded and unlocked.  75% of guns used in youth suicide attempts and unintentional shootings are stored in the residence of the victim, relative or friend.  

To reduce firearm injury, the safest home is one without firearms.  If firearms are in a home, locking, unloading, and separating ammunition can significantly reduce, but not eliminate, the risk of a child being harmed.

Key characteristics of effective campaigns:

  • Clinical intervention, especially among pediatricians, to promote safe firearm storage; consultations following a psychiatric crisis are particularly effective at prompting parents to practice safe storage.
  • Free distribution of gun locks are most effective at actually getting people to safely store firearms.
  • Broad community engagement is needed; partnering with groups that garner respect among gun owners is particularly effective (law enforcement, hunting & outdoor organizations, active-duty military, NRA).
  • Educational component, like the BeSMART program.

One model program is the Broward Co. FL’s Lock-It Up program started in 2018 by the local League of Women Voters.  They’ve formed a broad coalition of pediatricians, mental health providers, preschools, churches, organizations like Moms Demand Action, and governmental institutions. Visit our Legislation post for effective legislative solutions.

Impact of Gun Violence

The impact of gun violence is far-reaching and devastating.  By understanding the impact and acknowledging shared concerns, we can begin to identify ways to effectively address gun violence in a bipartisan manner.

Impact on children

To protect children and adolescents, priorities for gun safety policies include safe firearm storage, extreme risk protection orders, and universal background checks.

  1. 1 in 3 homes with children have guns; most children 5-14 years of age know where the firearm is stored.
  2. Among households with firearms and children less than 18 years of age, 22% have a loaded gun in the home.
  3. The presence of loaded unlocked firearms in the home increases the risk of suicide among adolescents by 4x.

For More Information & How to Take Action:

Domestic violence & firearms

Guns and domestic violence have long been a deadly combination. Every 16 hours an intimate partner with a gun kills a woman in the U.S. In addition to the physical danger guns pose, research reveals long-term emotional and behavioral effects of violence, aggression, depression and anxiety resulting from exposure to domestic violence. Visit our Domestic Violence and Firearms Stats Sheet for analysis on domestic violence and use of firearms in Pinellas County and St. Petersburg.

  • Domestic violence assaults involving a gun are 12 times more likely to end in death than assaults with other weapons or physical harm.
  • 44% of mass shootings between 2008-2013 involved intimate partners and 80% of child victims of mass shootings (4 or more deaths; not including school shootings) died in an incident connected to domestic violence (Dept. of Justice study, 2010-16)
  • The gun homicide rate for women in the U.S. is 21 times higher than in other high-income countries
  • 81% of Americans support legislation that helps keep guns out of the hands of domestic abusers and stalkers [1]

 For Additional Information:

  1. Barry, Colleen L., et al., “Public Support for Gun Violence Prevention Policies Among Gun Owners and Non-Gun Owners in 2017” American Journal For Public Health 108, no.7 (2018) 878-881.
  2. Cipriano, Andrea, TCR staff, “The Deadly Link Between Guns and Domestic Violence”, The Crime Report.org, May 30, 2019.
  3. Keck, David, Rothman, et al. “Guns and Violence Against Women: America’s Uniquely Lethal Intimate Partner Violence Problem”, EverytownResearch.org, October 17, 2019.

Impact on communities

Gun violence has changed the way many Americans live their lives.

  • Exposure to gun violence can create a cycle of violence. Psychological effects may include anger and disassociation, desensitization to violence, and an increased likelihood that violence will be used to resolve problems or express emotions.Impact of Guns on Communities
  • Routine gun violence is more concentrated in African American communities and disproportionately affects young men, particularly young African Americans.
  • The US is average among developed countries on urban crime rate, mental illness, use of violent media, and non-firearm homicide rates.  But our gun homicide rate is 20% higher because of easy access to guns. Guns don’t kill people; they just make it really easy.
  • 60% of all gun deaths are suicides.  A gun in the home makes a suicide 3x more likely because many suicide attempts are impulsive; 85-91% of firearm suicide attempts are successful.
  • The community pays a significant price for gun violence.  A 2019 study by Force Detroit showed that one gun homicide in Detroit costs local and state governments $1.6M; for a gunshot injury, it’s $1.1M, click here for a cost breakdown.  Crime and gun violence encourage urban flight, thus reducing housing values, community investment, and business growth.

For More Information: 

Impact of Gun Violence on Children, Families and Communities,” Child Welfare League of America, vol. 23, no. 1.

“Detroit homicide prosecutions cost society $1.6M per shooting, report says,” The Detroit News, June 29, 2019.

View our analysis of local violent crime, domestic violence, and suicide rates and check out the facts below on the impact of guns on communities.

Suicide & Firearms

Suicide is one of the leading causes of death in America. Guns are a devastatingly effective means of ending one’s own life. Nearly 50% of all suicides in America involve a gun and suicides account for about 60% of all gun-related deaths. 58 Americans kill themselves with a gun every day. You can see this in our suicide and firearms report with local data through 2017.

  • According to the American Journal of Public Health (AJPH), guns are not the most common way to attempt suicide, but they are the most fatal. Suicide by firearms has an 80-90% effective rate, compared to all other methods, such as drug overdose or hanging.
  • Suicide is often an impulsive decision. A gun in the home increases the risk of suicide.
  • Approximately 90% of people who survive suicide attempts don’t go on to kill themselves.
  • According to a 2017 study of Maryland suicides published in AJPH, men account for about 80% of all suicides and nearly 90% of gun-related suicides.
  • Suicide is the leading cause of death among Veterans; 20 Veterans die from suicide each day.

For More Information:

  1. American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, “Firearms & Suicide Prevention.”
  2. Kerry Shaw, “10 Essential Facts about Guns and Suicide,” The Trace, September 2016.
  3. VA Suicide Prevention Program, “Facts about Veteran Suicide,” July 2016.

Unintentional Shootings

Local Impact:  In the period January 2014 – August 2018 there were 533 unintentional shootings verified in Florida; 32 were in Pinellas County and 20 of those were in South Pinellas, District 13, which includes St. Petersburg

Facts You Should Know:
*  4.6 million children in the United States live in homes with at least one loaded, unlocked firearm.
*  An average of 7.6 children in the U.S. die each day from gunshot wounds.
*  A federal government study estimated that 31% of unintentional shootings might be prevented by two devices: a childproof safety lock and a loaded chamber indicator (a device that indicates there’s a bullet in the chamber and built into the gun; a slide can be used to swap out the part).

  1. For More Information:
    Pinellas County data from Gun Violence Archive, www.gunviolencearchive.org
  2. Deborah Azreal, Joanna Cohen, Carmel Sahl and Matthew Miller, “Firearm Storage in Gun-Owning Households with Children: Results of a 2015 Survey,” Journal of Urban Health, June 2018.  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29748766
  3. Devin Hughes, “Gun Storage Works: Safe Storage Saves Lives [opinion],” The Hill, May 31, 2018.  https://thehill.com/opinion/civil-rights/390074-gun-control-thatworks-safe-storage-saves-lives

Check the facts! 

The websites below provide accurate information for Florida voters.

Fact Check – Annenberg Center, University of Pennsylvania 

  • ” Nonpartisan, nonprofit ‘consumer advocate’ for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics.”

PolitiFact: Fact-checking US politics

  • Pulitzer Prize winning, fact-checking website that rates the accuracy of claims by elected officials and others on its Truth-O-Meter.

Florida Center for Fiscal and Economic Policy

  • “Independent research…to develop new ideas, and advise policymakers on state fiscal and economic policy.”

Nonprofit Voter Education Network (NVEN)

  • ” Largest source of nonpartisan resources to help nonprofits integrate voter engagement into their ongoing activities and services.”

 Project Vote-Smart

  • “American Political Science Journal: “Project Vote Smart was judged to be more trusted, useful and accurate than all the other sites.”

Safie Review

  • “What Florida’s Most Influential People Read Daily.”

Sourcewatch

  • “National, non-profit watchdog organization, founded in 1993… investigating and exposing the undue influence of corporations and front groups on public policy, including PR campaigns, lobbying, and electioneering.”

The Voter Participation Center

  • “Research-driven, results-oriented nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to increasing the participation and amplifying the voices of unmarried women (women who are single, widowed, divorced or separated) and other historically underrepresented groups in our democracy.”