New Orange County 'express sites' open to shorten early voting wait times

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ORLANDO, Fla. - With long lines at voting sites across Orange County, elections officials have opened new sites near existing polling locations where people can also cast their ballots.

Elections Supervisor Glen Gilzean said these so-called "express sites" should relieve some of the long waits.

"By expanding to these express sites," he said, "we'll be able to offload and give people more options so that way their voice is heard."

Currently, these express sites are located:

• West Orange County Rec Center (309 SW Crown Point Rd, Winter Garden)
• Valencia College Winter Park Campus (850 W Morse Blvd. Winter Park)
• Dr. Phillips YMCA Family Center (7000 Dr Phillips Blvd, Orlando)
• Orange County Work Release Center (130 W Kaley St, Orlando, FL 32806)

"Our goal is without staff, as we see the lines go extremely, we're going to encourage them and say hey, we have an express site right across the way from us and that's how we're looking to do for the remaining sites, as well," Gilzean said.

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Orange County elections staff say nearly 80,000 people have so far voted in person for the upcoming election, and another 80,000 more have voted by mail. Voters at the new express site in Winter Park said it was incredibly helpful.

"Oh it was great," said Pauline Outlaw, "I wanted to avoid the lines. I was going to drop off my mail-in ballot on Kaley, but I saw this on the news yesterday, so it makes it so much better!"

"I knew about this, we drove to the library, gonna go there," said Kate Lane, "then we decided that looks busy, let's see what's happening here, and no one! It's perfect."

Elections officials said they eventually hoped to have ten express voting sites open. The Orange County elections office has also launched a map on their website that lets people see the current wait times at polling centers.

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