If you want to have a say in who will make decisions for Gainesville, you need to register to vote in Alachua County by Monday.
Registration forms should be postmarked by Monday or dropped in the Supervisor of Elections mailbox by midnight Monday for you to be eligible to vote in the March 15 city election.
“Sometimes students feel that [an election] doesn’t have an impact on them,” said Pam Carpenter, supervisor of elections. “But some of them end up staying in Gainesville and making it their permanent home, so it does affect them.”
As of Thursday, there were 151,702 registered voters in Alachua County.
Carpenter said about 10,000 people voted in the election last March, accounting for 14 percent of the county’s registered voters at the time.
There are three ways to register. One option is to fill out and print an online registration form.
Another option is to download the registration form from the supervisor’s website. Interested residents can go to elections.alachua.fl.us for more information. Potential voters will have to write the information instead of typing it in.
A third option, which may appeal to those who don’t have a computer, is to pick up a registration form at 185 locations around the county, including several Publix supermarkets, UF locations and Gainesville schools.
“You have the opportunity to select who you want to represent you from the ground up,” Carpenter said.
