Phone lines, electricity go out temporarily at Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections office

TAMPA - An electricity outage at the Hillsborough Supervisor of Election office this afternoon delayed voters hoping to get in and out with an absentee ballot. 

A transformer in the area blew, knocking out power in the Supervisor of Elections office and the nearby Sheriff's Office.  However, the elections office generators kicked in immediately, allowing phone lines and computers to remain operational.

Voters were temporarily delayed.  They were allowed in a few at a time as workers confirmed identification, voters picked up absentee ballots, they filled it out and turned it back in. The line, which had been non-existent for most of the morning grew to several dozen.

However, the power was restored before 5:00 p.m., and poll workers say they don't anticipate any problems with counting or tallying votes this evening.