Recreation District Election

Nov 17, 2020

Monday you probably received your ballot to vote in the UPRD election for the Board of Supervisors - possibly both electronically and by US Mail. Because the Charter for the RD specifies that all residents or owners are eligible to vote, we are in a complicated situation when trying to reach all eligible voters. We used the Manatee County Tax Appraiser’s list of those who pay property taxes in order to identify eligible voters; the Appraiser’s list adds some complications of its own. You may have some questions.

QUESTIONS ABOUT THE UPRD BALLOTS JUST SENT OUT

Why did I receive a ballot electronically and by US Mail?
In order to make sure every eligible voter has the opportunity to vote, we decided to send

paper ballots to all, including those who signed up for electronic communications from the UPRD. The percent of eligible voters signed up for electronic voting was too small to justify manually removing those individuals from our mailing list. The Voter Registration number on both the paper ballot and the electronic ballot should be the same for an individual so the individual can only vote once.

If my house is in a trust, do I get two votes in the RD election?
Yes, according to the UPRD Charter, all owners - both individuals and trusts – are eligible voters; each should have received a unique Voter Registration number. Furthermore, if you and your spouse have separate trusts on the deed, your household potentially gets to vote four times.

Why did my spouse receive ballots for his/her trust which is on the property deed but my trust and I – also on the deed – did not?
The Tax Appraiser’s list includes only the first two owner names. If there are more than two names on the Appraiser’s list, subsequent names did not appear on our mailing list when the ballots were sent by US Mail. In such cases, if you are an owner on the deed and did not receive a ballot, please contact the District Manager at carvalhov@pfm.com with the subject line: NEED UPRD BALLOT.

Why did I receive two emails with my ballot?
The first email, sent late Sunday night, was addressed to the correct owner but incorrectly also included a duplicate name in the address line. The second email, sent Monday afternoon, correctly included only the owner’s name. The unique Voter Registration number did not change. So, the first email sent Sunday night can be ignored.