Two Tampa Bay elections supervisors criticized as "inaccurate" and "incorrect" a mailer by Gov. Rick Scott's campaign committee that tells voters that their absentee ballots should have arrived by now. The attention-grabbing mailer by Scott's Let's Get to Work committee has the words "Voter Alert!" and the statement, "By now, you should have received your absentee ballot."
Not true, elections official say. The first day that in-state absentees could be mailed was Tuesday, and they can be mailed up to Oct. 7, four weeks before Election Day. The last thing county elections officials want is to be inaccurately blamed for not sending ballots to their voters.
Hillsborough Supervisor of Elections Craig Latimer issued a news release that said, "Their information is incorrect." He plans to mail more than 150,000 absentee ballots to Tampa-area voters on Oct. 6.
On Twitter, Pasco Supervisor of Elections Brian Corley showed the mailer and said: "Here is the inaccurate flyer that voters throughout FL rec'd with incorrect info from # LetsGetToWork."
Scott campaign spokeswoman Jackie Schutz issued this statement: "Voting by mail is important, and we hope that all voters will receive their vote-by-mail ballots promptly." The campaign wouldn't comment on the record as to why it sent voters inaccurate information, but it's possible that the mail pieces simply reached Florida households sooner than expected.
Poll points to GOP
Gov. Scott leads Charlie Crist 43-39, according to a new poll from the Florida Chamber.
Libertarian Adrian Wyllie is taking 4 percent while 5 percent say they will vote for one of the other gubernatorial candidates and 7 percent are "firmly undecided," reads a polling memo.
Other results:
Attorney General Pam Bondi vs. George Sheldon: Bondi earns 48 percent to Sheldon's 31 percent.
CFO Jeff Atwater vs. William Rankin: Atwater leads with 43 percent to Rankin's 27 percent.
Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam vs. Thaddeus Hamilton: Putnam earns 41 percent to Hamilton's 29 percent.
The poll, conducted Sept. 18-21 during live telephone interviews of likely voters, has a margin of error of 3.5 percent.
The one and only
So far it looks like the candidates for attorney general will have only one debate — Monday, televised on Bay News 9 in Tampa Bay and News 13 in Orlando. The debate will include Republican Attorney General Pam Bondi, Democratic challenger George Sheldon and Libertarian nominee Bill Wohlsifer and be moderated by Times political editor Adam Smith, Bay News 9 anchor Al Ruechel and News 13 anchor Ybeth Bruzual. The debate will air on Bay News 9 on Monday at 7 p.m., then again Oct. 11 at 7 p.m. and Oct 12 at 11:30 a.m.
Alex Leary contributed.