Glen Gilzean says he’s ready for his first ever-elections as Supervisor of Elections in Orange County Tuesday, March 19. Governor Ron DeSantis appointed him to run elections in Orange County earlier this month.
Gilzean is also serving as the administrator of the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, but intends to transition to running the elections office full time.
“I am in both capacities until the board takes action, and the board is planning to take action,” Gilzean told WMFE’s Engage. “I’ve been taking time off to focus solely on the elections. The Supervisor of Elections role is very important and I’ve been laser focused on this.”
Gilzean said the first thing he did in his new role was chat with former supervisor of elections Bill Cowles. Cowles retired in January after 34 plus years of service.
Gilzean said it’s the legacy and team Cowles left behind that make him confident that Tuesday’s elections will run smoothly.
“Bill Cowles left an amazing team here, with well over 425 years worth of experience. And the team is phenomenal. And we are doing some amazing things. I feel more than ready, I was able to follow the process. This past weekend, we completed our supply distribution, we completed our poll worker training. And we wrapped up early voting,” said Gilzean.
Gilzean said he also feels ready for the primaries, because of his previous experience with voter engagement.
“I was the CEO of the Central Florida Urban League. And we put together one of the most robust voter education, voter outreach programs anywhere in the country. We also worked on the Census program, which was able to get the word out,” said Gilzean.
In an effort to bring more transparency to the office, Gilzean said for the first time ever, people will be able to watch a livestream of the ballots being opened and counted.
Polls are open between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. throughout the state.
Listen to the full conversation with Gilzean on WMFE’s talk show Engage.
Read more about voting in Orange County here. And here’s general information about Election Day voting in Florida.
As a reminder, you must bring a valid ID to vote in the state of Florida. Here’s what counts according to the Florida Division of Elections:
- Florida driver’s license
- Florida identification card issued by the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles
- United States passport
- Debit or credit card
- Military identification
- Student identification
- Retirement center identification
- Neighborhood association identification
- Public assistance identification
- Veteran health identification card issued by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs
- License to carry a concealed weapon or firearm
- Employee identification card issued by any branch, department, agency, or entity of the Federal Government, the state, a county, or a municipality
