A Few Innovations That Go Beyond Voting This Election Day on Sanibel Island

SANIBEL, Florida. Election day is only a few hours away.

A day that will no doubt affect the leadership of the island. There are four candidates on the ballot, including Sanibel Mayor Holly Smith. In this electoral cycle, two seats in the city council of Sanibel are up for grabs.

An election cycle that will be slightly different from those in the past.

“Maybe it’s a kind of endorsement of the way things work. I think that’s the way it is.”

Approval of how things are going five months after Hurricane Yang.

“To go through all this and bring it to life is a huge, huge job,” said Jerry Davenport, who lives on Sanibel Island.

Huge job to get Sanibel back. Something that is sure to be on the minds of voters on Election Day. This was on the minds of Fort Myers Beach voters after Ian, as the city experienced a leadership change.

Something, according to Davenport, an Iowa transplant now living on the island, could happen.

“You never say anything about elections,” he says. “And as time goes on, there will always be people who are unhappy with the way things are going, and those of us who think that everything is decided very well.”

Davenport says he and his wife voted absenteeism, a trend that has been going on ever since Sanibel became known as a house.

“We held an absentee vote, right. And we haven’t voted in person since we moved here — we did absentee voting both times.”

Just over 4,400 mail-in ballots have been sent out tonight for the Sanibel-Estero election. There are currently 33,794 eligible voters, with a turnout of about 13.22%. The process, according to Davenport, is pretty simple.

“It was easy with absentee ballots. We worked a lot on elections when we lived in Iowa, and so we’ve been doing elections and absentee ballots for many years.”

The Sanibel Recreation Center will serve as a polling place for Sanibel voters on Election Day. This is the first time the building will be used as a polling place since Hurricane Yang damaged the previous site.

“Due to other polling places on the island being affected by the storm, this year we were able to make space at the recreation center,” says Andrea Miller, director of recreation for the city of Sanibel.

The recreation center staff say the installation is almost complete.

“Everything went very smoothly, no hitches, and we are very pleased to have the opportunity to host,” said Miller. “We will be working as usual tomorrow from 7 to 5.”

As for what this election day might bring…

“Personally, I don’t think there will be big changes,” Davenport said. “But who knows, right?”