HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — We are one week out from the Florida Primary election on August 23. Early voting is underway statewide and an important deadline for vote-by-mail ballots is here.
Early voting runs through Saturday, and most counties have multiple locations you can cast your ballot. Unlike the general election, people can vote at any voting site in their county.
Plan on voting by mail? Election officials say to get your ballot in the mail ASAP, as they recommend having it sent at least a week before the election, to make sure it's in their possession by 7 p.m. that night.
If you don't have time to get it in the mail or don't want to, you can also drop off your vote-by-mail ballot at an early voting site in your county.
If you've already sent your ballot you can check the status of it by visiting your county's supervisor of election's website.
Florida is a closed primary election state. This means that in order to vote, you must be a registered member of a political party and then may vote for respective party candidates or nominees.
However, there are some instances where all registered voters can vote regardless of party registration.
There are several nonpartisan races. Judicial and school board offices as well as special districts or local referendums can be voted on by all registered voters even without party affiliation. These will differ across county ballots so check your sample ballot to know which are relevant for you.
A second instance is if all the candidates for an office have the same party affiliation and the winner of the primary election will not face opposition in the general election. Then, any registered voter can vote for any of those candidates in the primary.
What's my polling place?
What do I bring to my polling place?
A valid photo ID that includes a signature is necessary to cast your vote on Election Day.
This includes:
- 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 issued pursuant to s. 790.06
- Employee identification card issued by any branch, department, agency, or entity of the Federal Government, the state, a county, or a municipality.
If your photo ID doesn't have a signature, you'll be asked to show another ID that does. If you don't bring proper identification, you can still cast a provisional ballot.
Who and what is on the ballot?
Follow the links below to see what's on the ballot in your county. Follow the instructions on your local elections website to see what the ballot will look like.