Voters in Precinct 20 in Spring Lake will cast their ballots at a new site on Election Day after flooding conditions and a power outage forced a polling-place change in Sebring. The normal spot at the community center, 209 Spring Lake Blvd., is not being used.
That is the answer for anyone searching for how to find my polling place today: registered voters from Precinct 20 should go to the Penny Ogg Operations Center at 4504 Kenilworth Blvd., Sebring, 33870. The Highlands County Supervisor of Elections said the move was prompted before Election Day, and the site will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. for all registered voters in the precinct.
The change affects every registered voter assigned to Precinct 20, not just people who usually vote early or only in person on Election Day. In practical terms, it means the polling location is no longer tied to the community center voters may have used before. They now have one place to go, and it is a different address in Sebring.
The move also underscores how quickly a local election plan can change when the usual site is unavailable. Flooding and a power outage made the regular polling place unusable, so county election officials shifted voting to the Penny Ogg Operations Center rather than leave voters guessing or without a place to cast a ballot.
For voters in Precinct 20, the next step is simple: go to the alternate site and vote between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. on Election Day. The unanswered question is not whether the precinct will vote — it will — but how many people will arrive at the new location after learning the change at the last minute.
