Early voting gets underway this weekend for the upcoming municipal elections to be decided on Tuesday, March 19.
Municipal contests will be held in the Village of Royal Palm Beach, the Village of Wellington and the Town of Loxahatchee Groves, among other Palm Beach County communities. Also on the ballot will be Florida’s presidential preference primary.
Early voting opens on Saturday, March 9 and continues until Sunday, March 17 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at 26 locations across the county.
In the western communities, early voting locations include the Acreage branch library at 15801 Orange Blvd., the Royal Palm Beach branch library at 500 Civic Center Way and the Wellington branch library at 1951 Royal Fern Drive.
The deadline to request a vote-by-mail ballot for the election has already passed. However, if you have a vote-by-mail ballot and choose not to return it using the pre-paid postage via U.S. Mail, it can be returned at any early voting location during early voting hours.
One race is on the municipal ballot in the Village of Royal Palm Beach. Incumbent Mayor Fred Pinto faces a challenge from resident Steve Avila.
Three seats on the Wellington Village Council will be on the municipal election ballot. Four candidates are seeking Seat 1: Bob Margolis, Marcella Montesinos, Amanda Silvestri and John “Jay” Carl Webber, while five candidates are seeking Seat 4: Shelly Lariz Albright, Maria Antuña, Carol Coleman, Karen Morris-Clarke and Michael Partow. Also on the ballot is a mayoral race between Vice Mayor Michael Napoleone and resident Bart Novack. If no candidate gets more than 35 percent of the vote, the top two vote-getters will advance to a runoff on Tuesday, April 2.
Two seats on the Loxahatchee Groves Town Council will be on the municipal ballot. Those include Seat 1, which has incumbent Councilwoman Phillis Maniglia challenged by longtime resident Robert Sullivan, as well as Seat 3, which features incumbent Councilwoman Marianne Miles being challenged by former Councilwoman Anita Kane.
On Tuesday, March 19, all polling places will open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. To learn more about ways to vote, visit www.votepalmbeach.gov.
