Susan SalisburyLeague of Women Voters’ free, nonpartisan publication will be available Tuesday, Oct. 13.
A free, nonpartisan election guide that’s been available at Palm Beach County’s 20 library branches for a decade has been missing in action this year before the Nov. 3 elections.
In mid-September, the county’s League of Women Voters’ publication chair, Joyce Sullivan, learned the library system would not allow the 2026 voters’ guides to be placed for distribution. The reason was unclear.
But after Stet News asked him this week about the ban, Palm Beach County Administrator Joe Abruzzo said he is allowing it to be distributed once again at the libraries.
Tuesday, Abruzzo said it wasn’t right not to allow the guides in the libraries. After consulting with the county attorney, he authorized their distribution once again.
“Libraries are protected places for the dissemination of information,” Abruzzo said.
Abruzzo said the ban was imposed because there was confusion over what the state is allowing into the libraries.
The voters’ guide includes information about candidates running in federal, state and local races as well as breakdowns of proposed amendments to the Florida Constitution and countywide referendums. Each candidate within the same race receives identical questions, and responses are published verbatim.
Initial decision involved library bond
“The initial decision was made out of caution due to the county’s ballot initiative for voter approval of Parks and Library construction bonds,” Palm Beach County Library System Director Douglas Crane said in an email Tuesday to Stet News.
“Upon further review of the publication, the County will now accept the guides,” Crane wrote. “The League has been informed, and our locations are ready to accept delivery.”
Sullivan was pleased that the guides can now be distributed at the county’s libraries, and copies are expected to be available by Tuesday, Oct. 13. The libraries are closed Monday for Columbus and Indigenous Peoples Day.
This year the league paid The Palm Beach Post $10,000 to print 53,000 copies of the guide. Of those, 12,600 guides were inserted in The Post and the Palm Beach Daily News and delivered to print subscribers.
Volunteers distributed the guides at the league’s Election Expo on Sept. 28 and to senior citizens groups, condominium associations, other community groups and government offices.
“We hit a lot of senior living communities. We concentrated on underserved areas,” Sullivan said. “We have 35 volunteers who deliver all over Palm Beach County.”
2,000 guides left for libraries
Fortunately, Sullivan said, the league has at least 2,000 left to place in the libraries.
“In 2024, we gave the libraries 4,000. They wanted more. Hagen Ranch, Wellington and Palm Beach Gardens called and said they wanted more,” Sullivan recalled. “This year we thought we would get bombarded. The Wellington library called.”
The guide is put together by league members who volunteer for the task. There are teams for editing, creating candidate questions, contacting candidates and distribution.
About 75 percent of the content is from the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections office and includes information about general election dates, deadlines, acceptable IDs and voting machines.
State and federal candidate information is obtained from Vote411, a national platform the league owns. Statewide referendums such as proposed constitutional amendments are also provided by Vote411.org.
The league contacts local candidates and sends them questions the league creates. Candidates can choose whether to respond.
The Palm Beach County chapter was founded in 1975 and has about 550 members.
To find races that will be on your ballot using the league’s online platform, plug in your address at vote411.org/ballot.
