HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — Do you usually vote by mail? If you live in Hillsborough County, your request is probably expired.
Hillsborough Supervisor of Elections Craig Latimer is reminding residents that they need to submit a new vote-by-mail request now if they want to vote in the upcoming city of Tampa election on March 7.
“I don’t want anyone to assume they’ll get a ballot in the mail and then run out of time to request one,” Latimer said.
“For the 2019 City of Tampa election, we fulfilled more than 58,000 Vote By Mail requests. For the upcoming 2023 election, only about 12,000 City of Tampa voters have a request in right now. The March 7th election may seem far off, but we will start mailing ballots out in less than a month," he added.
Vote-by-mail requests used to stay in effect for two voting cycles, but now, they're only good for one. It's because of a controversial voting restrictions bill that Gov. DeSantis signed into law in 2021.
So, at the end of last month, every vote-by-mail request expired.
To submit a new request, Hillsborough County residents can find an online request form at VoteHillsborough.gov or call the Supervisor of Elections Office at (813) 612-4180. Just have your Florida driver's license or ID number or the last four digits of your social security number handy.
If you live in the city of Tampa and want to vote in the March 7 election, here are some important dates to remember.
Feb. 6: Deadline to register to vote (if you're not already registered)
Feb. 27-March 5: Early voting (vote in person or drop off your vote-by-mail ballot)
March 7: Election Day (your vote-by-mail ballot has to be received by this day or vote in person at your assigned polling place)