Anna Maria Island Republicans, Democrats and Libertarians, prepare to mark your ballots for the Florida primary that takes place Aug. 30.
Statewide, Democratic, Republican and Libertarian voters will be deciding their nominees for U.S. Senate.
And, though Florida has semi-closed primaries, island independents also have reason to go to the polls on primary day.
A look at the ballots:
- Statewide, the GOP ballot contains the U.S. Senate primary, with incumbent Marco Rubio, Carlos Beruff, Ernie Rivera and Dwight Mark Anthony Young.
- The statewide Democratic ballot contains the U.S. Senate primary race between Roque De La Fuente, Alan Grayson, Pam Keith, Reginald Luster and Patrick Murphy.
- Libertarians statewide will nominate their U.S. Senate candidate, either Augustus Invictus or Paul Stanton.
- Also statewide, voters will decide Amendment 4, a proposed constitutional amendment expanding tax incentives for renewable energy devices, including solar energy panels.
- A Congressional District 16 primary race is on local Republican ballots, with incumbent Vern Buchanan facing challenger James Satcher.
- Democrats in District 16 will nominate either Jan Schneider or Brent King.
- Manatee County Republicans will nominate a candidate for property appraiser — incumbent Charles E. Hackney or Chester E. Bullock — and party officers.
All voters on the island will see selections in two races for Manatee County School Board, the District 1 race with Xtavia Bailey, Gina K. Messenger, Linda Schaich and Edward G. Viltz and the District 3 race with incumbent Dave “Watchdog” Miner, Charlie Conoley and Misty Servia.
Voters in Bradenton Beach will see two charter amendment questions on their ballots, one regarding term limits for elected office and one dealing with the residency requirement for candidates for office. (See related story, this page.)
Voting has been underway for about a month, with mail-in and in-person early voting ballots being cast. Early voting ends Saturday, Aug. 27, and mail-in ballots must be filed with the Manatee County Supervisor of Elections office by 7 p.m. Aug. 30.
For islanders, the nearest early-voting location is the West Manatee Fire and Rescue administrative office, 6417 Third Ave. W., Bradenton. Hours are 8 a.m.-6 p.m.
Polls on primary day will be open 7 a.m.-7 p.m.
Anna Maria’s polling place, precinct 301, is Roser Memorial Community Church, 512 Pine Ave.
Bradenton Beach residents, who reside in precinct 307, vote at the volunteer fire station, 201 Second St. N.
Holmes Beach voters cast ballots either at the precinct 303 polling place, Gloria Dei Lutheran Church, 6608 Marina Drive, or the precinct 305 polling place, St. Bernard Catholic Church, 248 S. Harbor Drive.
At the close of registration for the primary, there were 222,815 registered voters in Manatee County, including 97,853 Republicans and 68,923 Democrats.
In Anna Maria, there were 1,174 registered voters, including 538 Republicans and 356 Democrats.
In Bradenton Beach, as of Aug. 19, there were 747 registered voters, including 332 Republicans and 216 Democrats.
In Holmes Beach’s precinct 303, there were 1,369 registered voters, including 697 Republicans and 365 Democrats.
In precinct 305, there were 1,450 registered voters, including 637 Republicans and 401 Democrats.
The general election will be Tuesday, Nov. 8.
The deadline to register to vote in the general election is Oct. 11.
On the web
For more information about voting and registering to vote, to online to votemanatee.com.