Elections
Bender Unveils New “I Voted” Sticker, Ballot-Tracking Upgrades and 10 Polling Location Changes Ahead of August Primary
Escambia County’s Supervisor of Elections says a barcode-tracked vote-by-mail envelope, an America 250-themed sticker and a veteran-honoring pin program are part of a broader push to boost turnout for an August 18 primary that will decide the Pensacola mayor’s race and a countywide referendum.
Escambia County Supervisor of Elections Robert Bender held a press conference this morning to roll out a slate of changes ahead of the Aug. 18 and Nov. 3 elections, from a redesigned “I Voted” sticker to new ballot-tracking technology and a list of polling locations that are moving.
Bender opened by tying much of the year’s branding to the nation’s America 250 celebration, which is being incorporated into a new office badge, the 2026 election worker pin and the redesigned sticker voters will receive after casting a ballot.
Honoring Veteran Election Workers
The office has partnered with Vet the Vote to recognize election workers who are veterans or come from military families. Bender said that of the workers who have completed the office’s survey so far, roughly 45% identified as part of a veteran military family. Those workers will receive a special pin featuring Vet the Vote’s 250th anniversary logo and the 2026 motto, “honoring service through service.” The county expects to have more than 600 election workers on hand for Election Day.
“It’s not just those who are serving that pay the price. It’s the sacrifices that their families make also. So I love that it’s incorporated the families as well.” — Election Supervisor Robert Bender
10 Polling Locations Are Changing
The elections office is distributing a press release detailing precinct changes falling into three categories:
- Six permanent changes, expected to extend beyond the 2026 cycle
- Two temporary changes, tied to construction at the permanent sites and planned only for 2026
- Two locations already moved during the 2025 special election, which the office wants to remind voters about
The changes include:
- Precinct 5 moves to Klondike Church on Klondike Road
- Precincts 49 and 106, previously combined at Career Estarosa, are being split into other precincts already located in that area
- Precinct 77 returns to Lexington Terrace after several years at Pensacola State College
- Precinct 98 (Bethel AME Church) moves to a new permanent location after two years at temporary sites
- Precinct 101 is also moving
- Precinct 31 returns to Christ Church after voting at the downtown library during the 2024 and 2025 cycles
- Precinct 70 (north of Brent) will temporarily relocate to Pensacola Christian College, alongside Precinct 110, while the Fricker Center undergoes renovation
- Precinct 22 moved from the Century Town Hall to the Billy G. Ward Century Courthouse during the 2025 special election
- Precinct 24 moved from Warrington Church to St. John’s Episcopal Church during the 2025 special election
Vote-by-Mail Gets a Tracking Upgrade
Bender said his office has spent the past 15 months improving the vote-by-mail experience. As of the press conference, Escambia County had more than 22,000 vote-by-mail requests on file — about 50% of the requests received during the 2024 general election, which saw a late surge of roughly 10,000 requests in the final three weeks. Voters must renew their vote-by-mail request every election cycle.
- However, those who did so for the 2025 special elections are already covered through November 2026.
New this cycle:
- A yellow coating has been added to the back of the vote-by-mail envelope, alongside the green front cover, to help ballots stand out in the mail and draw attention to the voter signature area
- Escambia County is now the fourth county in Florida to offer intelligent mail barcode tracking for both outbound and inbound ballots, allowing the office and USPS to trace a ballot’s location rather than just confirming it was sent and received
- Every vote-by-mail voter will automatically be enrolled in Ballot Track, the text and email notification service that previously saw low voluntary enrollment
Bender explained the practical benefit: previously, if a voter said they never received a ballot, the office could only confirm it had been mailed, not where it was. Now, working with Evergreen and the local USPS office, staff can see an expected delivery date and, if ballots appear to be stuck somewhere in the system, flag the issue directly with postal officials.
“A lot of times a voter would call and say, ‘Hey, you never sent me my ballot.’ … We didn’t know where it was. So as long as the USPS is scanning that barcode through their system, then we’re able to track it and see where it is.” — Election SupervisorRobert Bender
Bender was clear that the barcode tracks the envelope, not how a person voted, and that paper ballots themselves carry no tracking barcode. A separate scannable format is used only for overseas voters’ ballots, which are reproduced into a machine-readable form and then verified, without identifying whose ballot it is.
The 2026 “I Voted” Sticker
Bender unveiled this year’s “I Voted” sticker design, which pairs the office’s America 250 theme with local identity: a tall ship representing 1776 alongside a sleeker sailboat representing 2026, set against a fireworks backdrop. The office plans to return to its previous sticker design in 2028. This year’s stickers will be included in vote-by-mail packets and available at early voting sites and precincts on Election Day — a change from past cycles, when stickers were generally limited to voters who dropped off ballots in person.
Bender’s Pitch: Turnout Matters Most in August
Bender pointed to historically low participation in non-general election years, noting 75% of registered voters did not vote in the 2024 primary. He’s making turnout for the August 18 primary his top priority this cycle, since several consequential decisions will be made that day rather than in November.
“My emphasis this year is really about an August 18th election because we do have things on the ballot that will be decided in the August primary election.” — Robert Bender
- A countywide referendum on whether the superintendent of schools should be elected or appointed will appear on every Escambia County ballot, regardless of party affiliation
- School board races will also be decided
- Voters within the City of Pensacola will vote in the mayor’s race — a contest that, as in 2022, could be decided outright in August
