últimas notícias

Mayoral candidates: Compare Welch and Blackmon on the issues

City charter: The seven proposed amendments, explained

City council races, etc: Everything you need to know

Where to vote: Find your polling place here

In-person voting began at 7 a.m. today in the final day to cast ballots in the St. Petersburg general election. Voters will help pick the next mayor for the Sunshine City, as well as several City Council members. And there are several proposed changes to the city charter to weigh in on, too.

Polls will be open until 7 p.m., and voters can also drop off their vote-by-mail ballots until 7 p.m. at the elections office in downtown St. Petersburg at 501 1st Ave. N (or at the other two Supervisor of Elections offices).

As of Monday evening, more than 38,000 city residents had cast their vote-by-mail ballots in what appears to be on track to be far from a high-turnout election.

Not sure what’s on the ballot or why you should care? Reporter Colleen Wright has a handy roundup of everything you need to know.

The Tampa Bay Times will have reporters and photographers at the polls and with candidates. Stay tuned to this live blog for updates.

1:18 p.m.: From surgery straight to the polls

Brytt Mathas was still wearing her hospital visitor tags when she arrived at the First Baptist Church of St. Petersburg. Her husband, Brad, had just gotten out of surgery and been discharged. They drove straight to the polling station to cast their votes.

”We didn’t even go home first,” Brytt Mathas said, “that’s how much we care about voting.”

Both Brytt and Brad Mathas, along with their daughter, Alma Cirkic, said it’s the mayor’s race they care most about. Each threw their support behind Robert Blackmon.

“It’s about getting back to normal American politics,” Brad Mathas said. “I’m tired of radical views and divisiveness. It’s not was I was raised on.”

Cirkic, 20, agreed. She said she’s grown up in a world full of political animosity and tension. She wants peace, and said voting today was a small action she could take to work toward that.

”A lot of people I know my age don’t vote in local elections,” Cirkic said. “I just want to do my part.”

12:46 p.m.: ‘I don’t see them anymore,’ says voter

When David Zachem, 79, moved to St. Petersburg in 1984, he said there were many inspiring, forward-thinking men who were known statewide.

“I don’t see them anymore,” he said, standing outside his polling place, the Pinellas Community Church.

But he thinks Robert Blackmon could be part of a new wave of great leaders, and he cast his vote for Blackmon on Tuesday.

Zachem said he’s known Welch for a long time. But Zachem, who formerly headed the Lakewood Civic Association, said he hasn’t seen enough change in the area below Lake Maggiore.

“Ken has not really done anything for this area,” Zachem said.

Zachem said he also admired Blackmon’s response to the pandemic and support of restaurants and bars. The growth St. Petersburg has had on Central Avenue is vital to the city, he said.

“I just don’t want to see us lose that.”

After retiring in 2014, Linda Morgan, 69, moved from Chicago to St. Petersburg, the city where she always vacationed.

She voted for Welch.

“I like the things he says,” Morgan said, “but they always say the right things around election time.”

Though Morgan can be skeptical of politicians’ motives, she believes with Welch’s track record, he’ll come through on his promises. And if he doesn’t, she said she’ll have no issue voting for someone else. Morgan, who is Black, said it’s not about race but rather the ideals someone upholds.

She said low-income housing is a top priority.

“I’m paying almost $1,000 for a one-bedroom,” Morgan said. “It’s terrible, everything is so expensive.”

John Pacheco, 70, of Gateway, said he cast his vote for Blackmon at First Baptist Church of St. Petersburg. He said he likes the candidate’s energy. Pacheco was a supporter of Mayor Rick Kriseman and said he’s sad to see the current mayor go.

Kerri Cohron, 62, said she also cast her vote this morning for Blackmon.

“He’s young and he’s got progressive thoughts and new ideas,” Cohron said. “I like that he seems bipartisan.”

Additionally, she said she voted no on the charter amendment giving tax exemptions to some businesses.

— Lauren Peace and Romy Ellenbogen

12:19 p.m.: More than 48,000 ballots cast in St. Pete

11:33: Photos: Seen on Election Day

11:07 a.m.: Voters explain their mayoral picks

Henry Scantling, 65, voted for Ken Welch at Pinellas Community Church.

As someone who owns his home, Scatling said the rising rent prices in the city don’t affect him, but he’s still concerned for his kids and other family members making minimum wage.

“There’s hardly no place for them that’s affordable,” Scantling said.

He also voted in favor of a proposed charter amendment that would change city council elections, letting only voters in the district boundaries weigh in, instead of those city-wide.

“Change is the magic word,” Scantling said. “I’m tired of things being the same.”

Jodi, who is in her 50s from the Pasadena area, said she’s voting for Blackmon, a business person. Welch, she said, is very qualified but has “special interests that sway toward one area.”

That area? “Making everything equal for people. They’re bucking the systems because we created it,” she said. “We have to change it so people want to get up and do better for themselves.”

On high housing prices, she said, “People work hard to buy property. They don’t buy them and rent them to make everyone equal.”

Dellra Croteau, 42, of Pinellas Point is also voting for Blackmon, “because I feel other the candidates haven’t done anything in the time they’ve had so far.”

Lou Newkirk, 70, waved hello to Welch as the candidate walked around Lake Vista Recreation center before voting for himself. Welch’s father taught Newkirk at Sixteenth Street Middle School.

Newkirk said he and his wife, celebrating their 50th anniversary on Saturday, dropped their mail ballots off — votes for Welch.

“He’s a good man like his dad was,” Newkirk said.

— Romy Ellenbogen and Colleen Wright

10:44 a.m.: Council candidate Shay Lee talks ‘lawlessness’

Bobbie Shay Lee, a candidate for District 1, stood outside the Pinellas Community Church with her ballot already cast. Lee voted early, but started the day by going with her daughter, who turned 18 on Thursday, while she cast her ballot.

A third-generation St. Petersburg resident, Lee said she and her opponent Copley Gerdes are similar on many issues except for public safety and sewage dumping. Since the primary, Lee said the topic of conversation with voters has largely been St. Petersburg’s climbing number of homicides. She said the City Council is meant to ensure public safety, and it has failed.

”The lawlessness,” she said, “is going to affect our ability to attract visitors and keep residents.”

— Romy Ellenbogen

10:38 a.m. Driving across the state to volunteer

Lenisha Gibson, a 28-year-old volunteer with Dream Defenders, drove up from her home in Broward County to help volunteer for City Council candidate Richie Floyd. Gibson said she supports Floyd’s push for more social workers and counselors to respond to mental health and homelessness calls, instead of police. She also supports his environmental platform.

Floyd, who is running against former Council member Jeff Danner in District 8, was the only candidate to bring in more than 50 percent of the vote in the primary. If elected, he’d be the youngest person elected to City Council and the first Black Council member elected in a district above Central Avenue.

”It’s something that electrifies and inspires a lot of individuals, even me from Broward County,” Gibson said. “It feels like a movement.”

— Romy Ellenbogen

10:17 a.m.: Blackmon votes, says he’s ‘new blood’

10:10 a.m.: What to watch for today in elections nationwide

Virginia is deciding a governor’s race that could rattle President Joe Biden. In Minneapolis, shaken by George Floyd’s murder, the future of the police department is on the line. School board races across the country have become the new battlegrounds for partisan debates over race.

It may be an odd-numbered year but Tuesday’s elections aren’t sleepy, local contests. Here’s what to watch as returns come in Tuesday.

— Associated Press

9:44 a.m.: An Election Day fixture on 54th Ave. S

Every weekday morning for the three weeks leading up to every Election Day for the past several years, in the rain or in the sticky morning dew, Tammye K. Moore stands on the corner of 31st Street S and 54th Avenue S with her sign.

On one side it reads, “Pay attention. Vote. Every election. It matters.” On the other, “Don’t just make noise. Make a difference.” VOTE and NOISE are in bright green letters.

“I want them to get engaged,” said Moore, 59.

She recognizes the cars, from the vintage red hot rod to the family SUV to the work trucks. And they recognize her around town as the Lady on the Corner.

Moore, a St. Petersburg native, has been involved in politics since she was 14, when her mother worked on Jimmy Carter’s campaign. In 2000, she won a national essay contest about how she was driving the vote in her community and got to meet Earvin “Magic” Johnson. She’s also met Jada Pinkett Smith, Al Sharpton, Maxine Waters and Jesse Jackson.

She’s worked on campaigns too, for Rick Baker and Charlie Crist.

But after decades of door knocking, Moore can no longer do those long walks. So she picked this corner by her home near the Sunshine Skyway bridge, right next to the Interstate 275 on-ramp.

“Many people walked so I can vote,” she said. “If I can’t walk anymore, at least I can stand. This is the contribution I could make.”

She gets honks and thumbs up. A woman once brought her flowers during the primary election. When her nieces and nephews lived in town, they’d stand on the corner too.

Moore usually leaves the corner open for the politicians on Election Day, but City Council District 1 candidate Copley Gerdes asked last week if he could share the corner with her and wave his signs.

Moore agreed, but only if he came on Election Day. On Tuesday, he did.

“She’s worked harder than most candidates,” Gerdes said.

Moore thinks Gerdes played his cards right and could be mayor one day. She says politicians have to pivot from campaigning in churches and getting lost in the clicks on social media. The key is “talking to people early and often. Repeat. Repeat.”

“It’s up to the politicians to win them over,” she said “I want them to vote.”

“But don’t get it twisted,” she continued. “I’m a Democrat.”

— Colleen Wright

7:19 a.m.: Candidate Welch among early voters